Iran’s Interim Government Rejects Baku’s ‘Corridor’ Plan through Armenia

Official Tehran reiterated Iran’s long-standing opposition to Baku’s proposed land “corridor” through Armenia that would connect Azerbaijan-proper with Nakhichevan and thus Turkey.

Iran’s acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani told CNN Turk that while his country supports normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, it will not support changes to regional borders.

“The Iranian side supports all initiatives that will help the development of the region, in particular, the Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement. However, Tehran is against any project and initiative that will change the demographics and borders of the region,” Bagheri Kani emphasized when asked directly about the so-called “corridor” proposal.

In other Iran-relate news, the country’s foreign ministry also reaffirmed an earlier decision for Armenia to open a consulate in Tabriz, in Iran’s Azerbaijan province.

The foreign ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanani, told reporters on Monday that Iran and Armenia have signed an agreement on mutual opening of their consulates general in Tabriz and Kapan, the state IRNA news agency reported.

He added that Iran’s consulate general was officially opened during the visit of the late Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who died last month in a helicopter crash along with Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi.

Kenani, speaking on behalf of the interim government of Iran, said his country had granted consent to Yerevan for the opening of an Armenian Consulate in Tabriz.