Tbilisi, Aug 12 (EFE).– Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will visit Armenia next week amid tensions caused by the “Trump route,” a strategic corridor managed by the United States, Armenian authorities announced Tuesday.
“A business forum will be held in Yerevan on August 19 as part of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s visit to Armenia, scheduled for August 18–21,” announced the Armenian Ministry of Economy, specifying that the Iranian visit will last until Aug. 21.
“From the Iranian side, representatives of the industrial, road construction, agricultural, supply, pharmaceutical, engineering services, and light industry sectors have expressed interest in participating in the forum,” added the Ministry’s statement.
The Iranian president’s visit comes amid strong discontent in Tehran over the agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, mediated by the United States, which provides for the opening of a strategic corridor.
The route, previously known as Zanguezur and renamed the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP), would connect Azerbaijan directly with its enclave, Nakhchivan, through Armenian territory, avoiding Iran but running very close to its border.
It will be managed by an Armenian-American company based in the US. Washington presented it as a regional integration route that will promote trade and stability after almost four decades of tensions and intermittent conflicts between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan was connected to Nakhchivan via the Zanguezur railway, but the route was cut off during the First Azerbaijani-Armenian War in 1988.
Since then, much of the goods circulating between Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan have passed through Iranian territory, which gives Tehran transit fees and strategic value as a bridge between the Caspian Sea and the Middle East.
With the so-called “Trump route,” Iran would lose its role as a strategic corridor in the South Caucasus, plus Tehran has concerns about the possibility of US military deployment near its northern borders.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan already spoke with Pezeshkian by phone on Monday.
Iran had opposed this corridor since it was proposed in November 2020 in the ceasefire agreement that ended the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
That document stipulated that the strategic transport route would be managed by Russia, whose peacekeeping troops were deployed in the region to ensure compliance with the truce after the war for control of Nagorno-Karabakh.
However, in 2024, Russian troops withdrew from the region, a few months after Azerbaijan took control of all the disputed territory with Armenia. EFE
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