Dr. Ahmad Kazemi, Professor of International Law in Tehran and Senior Researcher on Eurasian Issues and senior author and researcher in the field of the Caucasus and Eurasia, frames the issue in legal and sovereignty terms:

“Iran welcomes the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, because signing the peace treaty means recognizing the international borders of the two countries. This can curb the ethnic and territorial expansionist intentions of the Republic of Azerbaijan to dominate southern Armenia, which is carried out by applying the fake term “Western Azerbaijan” to Armenia. Iran is not against the opening of communication lines and normal roads between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia. Tehran is against any extraterritorial corridor that violates the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the host country, Armenia, and causes geopolitical changes… There is no legal basis for the request of the Republic of Azerbaijan for a corridor based on the 2020 ceasefire agreement in Moscow. Also, according to international law, the existence of an “extremist zone” (exclave) in Nakhchivan does not give Baku the right to request a corridor.”

Dr. Kazemi argues alternatives already exist, pointing to the Iran-backed Aras Corridor, which Baku can use for road, rail, and energy connections to Nakhchivan. He also stresses that Azerbaijan’s insistence on the term Zangezur signals territorial claims over Armenia’s Syunik province, which he calls a violation of Article 2 of the UN Charter.

Dr. Kazemi outlines the Iranian position:

“From Tehran’s perspective, Baku and Ankara’s insistence on creating an extraterritorial corridor is in line with NATO’s grand plan, which aims to create a NATO highway from the Mediterranean Sea and Turkey to the Caucasus, the Caspian Sea, and Central Asia. The main goal of creating this corridor is to exclude Iran, Russia, and China from the energy and transit equations of the region and to remove rare and valuable metals from both sides of the Caspian. It seems that one of the goals of creating this corridor is to implement England’s historical plan to create a Turanian world. The Turanian world is supposed to activate ethnic faults in Iran, Russia, and China and transform the original Azerbaijani identity, which is a Shiite and Iranian identity, into a Turkish identity. Changing the title of the fake Zangezur corridor to “Trump’s Route to International Peace and Prosperity” does not change the nature and goals of this plan. Iran, having common borders, is a neighbor of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan and is interested in expanding relations with both countries. Both countries have been part of historical Iran. Iran believes that a regional security system in the Caucasus should be formed based on the 3+3 formula, meaning the participation of the three Caucasus countries and their neighbors (Iran, Russia, and Turkey), a model that I proposed in my 2005 book titled ‘Security in the South Caucasus.’“

https://wyomingstarnews.org/2025/08/28/exclusive-iran-armenia-azerbaijan-and-a-corridor-that-could-rewire-the-caucasus/