Ex-Iranian diplomat: No strategic alignment between Iran, Russia

Kourosh Ahmadi told Entekhab news website, “There is no strategic alignment between Iran and Russia, and on the contrary, there is strategic competition.”

The remarks came days after Russia backed the reopening of a controversial corridor in Armenia that links the two territories of Azerbaijan at the cost of impeding Iran’s direct access to Armenia and onwards to Europe.

Ahmadi said after Russia reached a dead-end in its war in Ukraine, it developed a huge appetite to establish its presence in Armenia’s Syunik province and start a partnership with Turkey to turn into an energy hub.

The former diplomat, however, warned the equation would sideline Iran and Europe.

He added, “Considering the lack of meaningful relations between Iran and the West and Iran’s exclusion from diplomatic equations in the South Caucasus, it is unlikely that there will be a possibility for coordination between Tehran and the West in this matter.”

Ahmadi also deplored that, in broader context, Iran’s problem is not confined to the Zangezur corridor, as the country has been left out and bypassed in other transit corridors in the region during the past two decades “although Iran’s territory is one of the most economic and shortest routes for land corridors, oil and gas pipelines, and air routes.”