Iranian Ambassador on Pashinyan's Statement

The Islamic Republic of Iran is not opposed to the unblocking of regional roads, provided that this is done under the national and territorial sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries. This was stated by Mehdi Sobhani, the Iranian ambassador to Armenia, during a press conference held on the occasion of the 46th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

“We are in favor of unblocking roads within Armenia, but it must be carried out on the basis of respecting the jurisdictions of the countries and their territorial integrity. We are against any route that contains the logic of a corridor,” emphasized Ambassador Sobhani.

The ambassador elaborated that Azerbaijan previously had communication through Iranian territory to Nakhchivan, and after the 2020 war, Azerbaijan has come closer to the borders of Iran and Armenia. According to him, the previous freight transportation route was relatively longer, thus the following idea was proposed: Azerbaijan should utilize most of this route through its territory, with the remaining part passing near the border of Armenia and Iran.

“We offered the Azerbaijani side to continue their freight transport to Nakhchivan via a new point. Once the construction work is completed, Azerbaijani vehicles can reach Nakhchivan via this road, which is 50 km long,” noted the ambassador.

Commenting on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statements that Armenia is offering Azerbaijan a route through its territory to Nakhchivan under the same conditions as Iran, the ambassador stated that the route passing through Iranian territory is entirely under Iran's jurisdiction and territorial sovereignty, with customs regulations carried out in accordance with Iranian legislation.