Completion of Iran-Armenia transit route a must; Expert
An expert on Caucasus affairs believes that the 25-year-old Iran-Armenia transit route should be completed as soon as possible.
Mohammad-Reza Damavandi told on Friday that in a 44-day war between Armenia and Republic of Azerbaijan along the Nagorno-Karabakh Line of Contact, Baku could retake parts of the region.
Azerbaijan claims that based on Soviet era maps some 21 kilometers of the transit route between Armenia and Iran belong to Baku, so it has erected a military post and started taking tolls from vehicles, including Iranian trucks.
Damavandi pointed out that the transit route is the only active road between Armenia and Iran, which is used by Iranians as their only path to Armenia, Georgia, and the Black Sea, noting that Azerbaijan’s imposition of tolls will hinder trucks from transporting goods between Iran and Armenia.
In the over 30 years that have passed since establishment of Republic of Azerbaijan, Iranians have been able to easily transit commodities to Nakhichevan, he noted.
Azerbaijan’s move in charging Iranian trucks will not continue for long; a substitute road should be set up to facilitate transportation into Armenia, he said.
Though Tehran and Yerevan have experienced ups and downs in their long-run relations, the ties have in general been positive, the analyst said, adding that Armenia’s appropriate understanding of the regional and international situations will help enhance bilateral historical ties between the two countries.
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