Iran supports opening of Zangezur corridor, signs new gas supplies contract with Azerbaijan
Iran supports the opening of Zangezur corridor
Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan signed a trilateral agreement on mutual gas supplies. The President of the Islamic Republic said that Iran supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and also considers the opening of the Zangezur corridor beneficial for itself.
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Major gas supply contract
The capital of Turkmenistan hosted the 15th summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), within the framework of which Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan signed a trilateral agreement on mutual gas supplies.
According to the document signed by the presidents of the three countries, Turkmenistan will annually supply from 1.5 – 2 billion cubic meters of gas to Azerbaijan through Iran, Iranian agency Shana reported. Deliveries will begin on December 22, 2021.
What Azerbaijan will use this gas for has not yet been specified. According to experts’ forecasts, additional volumes of natural gas will go through the Southern Gas Corridor – the pipeline which supplies Caspian gas to European countries.
Iranian President commenting on tensions with Azerbaijan
During a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the summit, Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi expressed concern about the activity of the United States and Israel in the Caucasus region, in particular, in Azerbaijan, IRNA reported.
Raisi reinstated Iran’s support for the independence and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and added: “We do not allow the lack of security and foreign interference in the affairs of countries in the region”.
“ISIS and Zionist terrorism are two threatening factors in the region and they must be confronted”, the Iranian president said.
In response to Raisi’s statement, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that “Baku attaches particular importance to its fraternal relations with Tehran and will not allow [anything] to harm it”.
“We are committed to ensuring the security of border areas and will not allow any country to disrupt bilateral relations”, Aliyev stressed.
The prospect of opening the Zangezur corridor
At a meeting with Aliyev, the Iranian President recalled that Tehran “had an open and unambiguous position on the Karabakh issue,” the Iranian state news agency IRNA reports. “From the supreme leader to government officials, everyone adhered to the position that the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan should be ensured”, he said.
The Presidents of Iran and Azerbaijan discussed the North-South international transport corridor, as well as cooperation within the Zangezur transport corridor, Turan news agency reported, citing Iranian sources.
“It was noted that the creation of the Zangezur corridor is beneficial for Iran as well”, the agency writes.
