Iran Seeks Guarantees From Armenia That Trump Route Will Keep Foreign Forces Away From Its Border

Iran is seeking firm guarantees that a U.S.-backed transport project in the South Caucasus will not bring foreign forces to its northern border or establish a corridor outside Armenia’s control, raising security questions about a Washington-brokered initiative to connect Azerbaijan with its Nakhijevan exclave.

Iranian Ambassador to Armenia Khalil Shirgholami said Friday that Tehran had communicated its concerns to Yerevan and wanted safeguards reflected in how the project is implemented.

“We do not have a biased approach, we have serious concerns,” he told reporters.

The proposed Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, known as TRIPP, would pass through southern Armenia, connecting mainland Azerbaijan with Nakhijevan. The initiative emerged from U.S.-brokered agreements between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington in August 2025.

The project would operate in Armenia’s Syunik province, which borders Iran, placing its security and management arrangements under close scrutiny from Tehran. Iran has repeatedly warned against arrangements that could threaten its security or alter existing borders in the region.

Shirgholami said Iran’s central demands were that Armenia retain full sovereignty and jurisdiction over the route and that no outside power use the project to threaten Iranian interests.

Tehran expects assurances that foreign forces will not be stationed along the Armenian-Iranian border or in nearby areas, he said.

Armenian officials have repeatedly said such a deployment will not take place, the ambassador acknowledged. But while Tehran considers those assurances important, it wants the project’s implementation to uphold them.

Technical negotiations are continuing over how the route would be managed and operated. For Iran, those details are essential to ensuring the project does not become an extraterritorial corridor — a route operating outside Armenian jurisdiction.

Shirgholami urged Armenian officials to exercise caution when negotiating those terms, saying the final arrangements must protect the country’s territorial integrity and national sovereignty. He also warned against third-party involvement that could undermine relations between Armenia and Iran.

Despite those concerns, the ambassador said he believed the two neighbors could resolve their differences through negotiations. He proposed a regular consultation mechanism to allow officials to address problems as they arise.

“I am confident that as a result of constant contacts, we will be able to resolve any issue,” he said.

During the same exchange, Shirgholami also discussed the countries’ cultural ties, describing Yerevan’s historic Blue Mosque as part of their shared heritage.

“Yerevan’s Blue Mosque has been and will remain Armenian-Iranian,” he said.

Built in the 18th century during the rule of Hussein Ali Khan, the mosque is one of the Armenian capital’s best-known examples of Iranian architecture.

Shirgholami said its design reflected its Iranian origins, while its presence in Yerevan illustrated a long history of cultural and religious coexistence between Armenians and Iranians. He described it as a place where Islamic and Armenian Christian traditions had existed alongside one another for generations and credited Hussein Ali Khan with helping develop cultural ties between the two peoples.

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