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Qabil Ashirov

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Signing a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and opening the Zangazur corridor will be the final nail in the coffin of the Iranian long-dead Caucasian policy. Being aware that it will deprive Iran of leverages over the region, the mullah regime makes up fabrications to cow Armenia not to sign the agreement and open the corridor. There is no single day that Iranian mass media do not publish ridiculous articles or news about the so-called side effects of the Zangazur corridor on Armenia. The last such opprobrium was published in Parstoday. In his comment on the issue, Mohammad Ismail Alikhani, former representative of Iran to the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) allegedly claimed that ostensibly the Zangazur corridor will cut Armenia's only link to Iran and Armenians will ask permission from Azerbaijan to go to Iran.

However, blocking the the only transport route between these two countries by launching the corridor is out of the question. For example, previously Azerbaijanis and Armenians simultaneously used the former Lachin corridor without hindering each other's movement. Armenians crossed the bridge over the Hakari River for going to Khankendi, while Azerbaijanis drove under the same bridge for going to Kalbajar. So the same scenario can be applied to the Iranian-Armenian border, especially for the shuttle of transport. We can list several other examples to prove that the corridor will not block any movement between Armenia and Iran, on the contrary, it will give the opportunity to both countries to boost trade turnover between the two countries through the railways that will be constructed on the corridor. Besides, the corridor will enable both countries to export their products to Russia which will cause to increase in the living standards in the region. However, it once again proves that ambition is more important than the wealth of Iranian citizens for mullahs. It is known that after the First Karabakh War, as Armenia closed the Zangazur corridor, Iran became the only optional route whether cheap or expensive between Azerbaijan and its exclave Nakhchivan. For sure, it depended on the mood of the official Tehran to use the route to Nakhchivan as leverage to influence Azerbaijan. In any dispute, Iran bans movement toward Nakhchivan.

Needless to say that if Armenia opens the Zangazur corridor, Iran will lose this leverage, which is one of the main concerns for it. In addition, the regime has discovered another leverage to influence Armenia - to save Armenia from so-called “Azerbaijan’s aggression”. As if "Azerbaijan aims to occupy the south of Armenia", and Iran "protects Armenia heroically".

Further, the increasing dynamics of the GDPs of Azerbaijan and Armenia are much faster than the isolated mullahcracy. According to the economic data, Azerbaijan's GDP has ramped up by 175 folds, and Armenia's GDP has increased by 15 times for 30 years, but Iranian GDP has grown 5 times. Keeping in mind this economic data, some can conclude that South Caucasus countries will overtake Iran economically in the near future, and opening the Zangazur corridor will accelerate this process which means a big blow against the Iranian propaganda over the developing economy despite being deprived from majority of projects. In the future, every single Iranian citizen crossing the borders to Azerbaijan and Armenia will witness the big differences between the living standards in the South Caucasus and Iran. So, opening the Zangazur corridor does not mean territorial claims against Armenia, but it means further marginalization of the regime in Tehran.

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Qabil Ashirov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @g_Ashirov

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