The strategic necessity of building the Iran-Armenia railway

Iranologist Puya Hosseini writes on his Facebook page. "The railway line of Iran should be connected to the railway and ports of Georgia through the territory of Armenia as soon as possible. Through these ports, the North-South corridor will connect with Europe and North Africa.

Many analyzes have been published about the importance of this corridor, but no action has been taken. It is predicted that thanks to the North-South Corridor, 100 million tons of cargo will be transported through the territory of Iran between East and West, South Asia, including West Asia. However, no tangible steps have been taken in that direction.

And what are the reasons?

1. Turkey does not cooperate in solving the problem of the Lake Van railway and the illegal transportation of railway cargo through this route.
2. The current problem around the Volga River strait in the rapid transportation of large cargoes
3. Iran's railway is not connected to Iraq through Shalamche or Khanaki

One of the main ways to solve these problems is to connect Iran's railway to Georgia through the territory of Armenia. Georgia's Port of Poti is one of the largest and most advanced ports in the world. The port of Batumi also has great opportunities.

That goal can be reached in two ways.

1. The Rasht-Astara railway and connecting it to Georgia through the territory of Azerbaijan, or connecting the Jolfa railway to Nakhichevan, and from there to Armenia and Georgia, which requires the least investment, because its infrastructure is available.
Probably, Azerbaijan will not seriously cooperate with Iran as before. However, Tehran should do everything for the construction of the Armenian railway, so as not to be dependent on Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Even if Azerbaijan cooperates more, the railway route is not enough to implement the north-south corridor and transport tens of millions of tons of cargo through this international corridor. And the construction of the Iran-Armenia railway is a national necessity.

2. The second way is the construction of a 65-kilometer railway from Jolfa to a designated place on the border of Armenia.

Considering the above, Iran and Armenia should sign an agreement on the construction of the railway.

For the implementation of the project, it is also necessary to create a consortium with the participation of Indian and Chinese investors, so that in addition to Iran and Armenia, other like-minded countries, such as India and China, will also benefit from the advantages of this big project.

Author: Seyed Hossein Mirafazli, expert on Caucasus issues
Source: "Ruze no" website.