TEHRAN -
The recent Azerbaijani attack - on targets in southern Armenia - brought back the language of threat and intimidation to Iranian circles about the necessity of not allowing any geopolitical changes on its borders, while social media posted videos of the build-up of Iranian forces near the common border with Azerbaijan.
Iranian observers attribute the renewed clashes between Baku and Yerevan to an "international conspiracy aimed at geographically besieging Iran", by occupying the border strip between Iran and Armenia, with the aim of creating the Zangzur Pass between Nakhchivan Province and the rest of Azerbaijani lands.
Some Iranian circles accuse the United States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Israel of working to extend a NATO corridor on the common Iranian border with Armenia, and that the corridor linking Nakhchivan Province and the rest of the Azerbaijani territories is nothing but a practical implementation of this plan, which Tehran considers a red line, and aims to Its national security first and its economic artery second.
In this report, Al Jazeera Net seeks to present an Iranian reading of the renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and the project to establish the Zanzigzor corridor on its borders.
Part of an Iranian military maneuver in undisclosed locations on its soil (Reuters)
What is Iran's position on the renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia?
Iranian circles have different opinions regarding the renewed conflict near its borders with Azerbaijan and Armenia;
The military establishment hastened to mobilize its forces at the common borders and declared - by more than one military commander - that it will not allow the geographical borders in the region to be changed, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced its readiness to mediate in order to reach a political solution to the conflict, noting that the common borders between Iran and Armenia exist. Thousands of years ago and cannot be changed.
In addition to the phone call between Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jehon Bermov, and his emphasis on the need not to change the internationally recognized borders, the Iranian ambassador to Baku, Abbas Mousavi, hastened to hold a meeting with Alchin Amirbiyov, Special Assistant to the First Vice President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, stressing His country's readiness to "help its neighbors to achieve sustainable peace by holding bilateral and tripartite meetings and the 3+3 regional initiative in Tehran" (a mechanism for cooperation and peace in the Caucasus region).
In this context, the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations in Tehran linked the developments in the Caucasus region to a foreign conspiracy, explaining that the second Karabakh war was not for the liberation of this region, but as a cover for the creation of the "Turkish corridor of NATO" or the Zangezur corridor, and said that this means a violation of Article 4 of the Charter United nations.
In assessing a position on the conspiracy to establish the Turkish corridor of NATO with geopolitical repercussions against Iran, Russia and China, the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations considered that the corridor targets the eastern triad (Iran, Russia and China) as the archenemy of NATO, and the Turkish corridor is supposed to play the role of the "Danzig corridor." For Hitler before World War II, in order to implement geopolitical changes.
Why does Iran oppose the project to establish the Zanzigzor Pass near its common border with Armenia?
There is no more talk about national security and the beleaguered economy in Iran’s vision of what is happening near its common border with Armenia, according to the researcher in Eurasia, Ali Baman Iqbali Zarej, who renewed Tehran’s initial opposition to any NATO expansion towards the east in general, and towards its borders in particular.
Iqbali Zarej - in his speech to Al Jazeera Net - saw the conflict of foreign interests in the Eurasia region as a threat to Iran's national security, stressing that the establishment of a Turkish corridor would harm the Iranian transit (movement) field by cutting off or undermining the north-south corridor, as well as cutting off the road in the face of Iran to reach Europe via Armenia.
He concluded that the Zanzjour Pass aims to transfer energy from Eurasia and Central Asia to the Green Continent, which means that it will put a permanent end to the European need for Iranian energy.
In this context, the former Iranian ambassador to Azerbaijan, Muhammad Baqer Bahrami - in a statement to Iranian television - accused Israel, Britain, Turkey and Azerbaijan of working to create a "Turkish world" by creating a corridor to extend to Turkmenistan and one of the Chinese provinces with a Uyghur majority.
Bahrani added that it would be better to call the Zanzigzor corridor the "Turkish corridor of NATO";
Because "after the establishment of this corridor, we will have common borders with NATO and the Zionists on the one hand, and they will cut off our contacts with the north on the other, and this issue will be at the expense of Iran, Russia and China."
Bahrami sees resolving the dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia possible by constructing several bridges on the border Aras River (Iranian press)
How can Iran counter the establishment of the Zanjour Pass?
The Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had raised the issue of renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia, when he received Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last July, stressing that his country rejects any change in the borders located in its northwest.
The position of the Iranian leader is a roadmap that must be followed by Iranian institutions, to prevent any geopolitical changes on the common border with Armenia, which justifies the Iranian Foreign Ministry's move to resolve the dispute between Baku and Yerevan politically, and to mobilize Iranian forces at the northwestern border militarily.
Regarding Tehran's alternative approach if the political option fails, Bahrami refers to his country's military maneuvers on the borders near the conflict areas between Azerbaijan and Armenia, stressing that in the event of a change in the internationally recognized borders, his country will have to intervene to prevent this.
How can Iran help resolve the dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia?
The former Iranian ambassador in Baku recalls that his country has offered mediation since the beginning of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, stressing its readiness to prepare a plan to link Nakhchivan to southern Azerbaijan through Iranian territory, and stressing that addressing the problem is possible by constructing several bridges on the Aras River, which is located on the borders with Azerbaijan and Armenia. .
Bahrami added, "If it is only about economic activity, they can travel through Iran, because Nakhchivan and Azerbaijan are connected through Iran and they can use this route."
He concluded that if Baku, Ankara and NATO do not really want to implement the "Turkish corridor plot" - according to him - by attacking the Armenian province of Syunik, then the best solution is to cross this road at the Zangilan and Nakhchivan border point with Armenia from inside Iranian territory. A memorandum of understanding in this regard was signed between Tehran and Baku in 2021.
Pak Ein warns of the Israeli plan to approach Iran's borders and tamper with its security (Al-Jazeera)
Why does Iran insist on linking the issue of the Zanzigour Corridor to NATO?
The former Iranian ambassador to Baku, Mohsen Pak Ain, believes that NATO is seeking - by encouraging him to establish the Zanjzur Pass - to reach Russia through the Caspian Sea, warning that this will cut off Iran's connection with Russia through Armenian territory.
Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Pak Ain referred to Turkey's membership in NATO, stressing that the alliance sees its interest in accessing the Caspian Sea waters by land through the Zanzjor Pass at Iran's expense, and cutting off its connection with Yerevan, which is Iran's gateway to Eastern Europe.
The former Iranian ambassador in Baku pointed to the growing Israeli presence in Azerbaijan, warning against "the Zionist scheme aimed at approaching Iran's borders and tampering with its security," attributing the recent Azerbaijani attack on Armenia to Baku's harmony with the policies of Ankara, a NATO ally in the region.