Azerbaijan Hinders Iranian Exports to Russia

Jalal Jalifari, a member of the Board of Directors of the Iran-Russia Joint Chamber of Commerce, has stated that Azerbaijan is obstructing Iranian exports to Russia. This was reported by Iranian Imna, according to Infoteka24.ru.

According to Jalifari, 80 percent of Iran's exports to Russia consist of agricultural and food products, most of which pass through the Astara crossing. Azerbaijan cannot directly announce that it has closed this route, as Russia is also involved in this issue.

He noted that the Azerbaijani side presents some excuse every day, such as a lack of electricity, the X-ray machines not working, or sometimes they say that there are no drug-sniffing dogs, while the Azerbaijani government refuses to cooperate. As a result, long queues of trucks are forming at Astara, reaching up to 10 kilometers.

"We need to have a model of diplomacy with each country, especially neighboring countries. Recently, it became known that the transit route from Azerbaijan will be replaced by Armenia. Under such circumstances, the media should not cover these decisions. Azerbaijanis are antagonizing the Armenians, and the dissemination of such news is leading to sabotage. Now the only way to open this route is through diplomacy," Jalal Jalifari added.