Iran and the geopolitics of Zangezzor Corridor

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Department of Political Science, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Iran.

Abstract
In different historical periods, one of the important geopolitical regions for Iran's security has been the South Caucasus region. China is trying to revive the historical Silk Road with a new one-belt-one-way plan, which used to start from China and lead to Europe through Iran and the Caucasus. Iran has a fundamental position in the plan of this corridor; the kind that reaches the Black Sea from Chabahar through the North-South corridor and passes through Armenia, Georgia, and Russia. After the ceasefire in the second Karabakh War, an agreement was reached between Azerbaijan and Armenia, one of the provisions of which is the plan to reopen the old roads. Still, Azerbaijan has an idea beyond the old one-way under the supervision of Armenia and wants to create a west-east corridor in the Zangezor region, directly under the supervision of Baku. This action violates the territorial integrity of Armenia, and also, causes the destruction of Iran's border with Armenia. On the way to creating the western-eastern corridor of Zangezzor, not only the Republic of  Azerbaijan but also many countries support the creation of this corridor. Now, the main question of this research is, what effect does Azerbaijan's plans to create a new corridor have on Iran's security? These countries are pursuing goals such as the creation of NATO's Turani Corridor, a permanent source of energy, and ultimately this extravagance will lead to the blockade of Iran in the northwest and the loss of one of the old crossings and highways.

Keywords

Subjects