The head of Iran’s parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Committee said on Sunday that no time or place has been set for new talks with the US as an ongoing review looks set to conclude that negotiations with the US are unjustified.
On Friday, Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a deal at the White House to settle a longtime dispute over the corridor, a strip of land which became a flash point in the two rivals’ decades-long conflict.
The deal gives Washington leasing rights to develop the transit corridor, which would connect Azerbaijan with its exclave, Nakhchivan. It will be renamed the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP). Though it will operate under Armenian legal jurisdiction, the US will lease the land to a private American company to manage construction and logistics.
“The Islamic Republic will not easily overlook the issue of Zangezur,” Ali Bagheri Kani, the secretary of Iran's Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, told state broadcaster IRIB on Saturday evening in reaction to the US-brokered peace deal.
The Strategic Council on Foreign Relations is responsible for formulating strategies and policies and coordinating all foreign affairs activities. Its members and chair are appointed by the Supreme Leader.
Russia’s foreign ministry had also taken a position and said other countries would not remain silent, Bagheri Kani added.
Russia, a traditional ally and broker in the strategically vital South Caucasus, was excluded from the deal, despite its border guards stationed on the Armenia-Iran border.
While supporting the summit, Moscow urged that solutions be developed by regional countries themselves with support from their immediate neighbors—Russia, Iran, and Turkey—warning against the “sad experience” of Western mediation in the Middle East.
Kayhan calls plan a 'betrayal'
Bagheri Kani's remarks followed a sharply worded piece in Kayhan, a daily under the supervision of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, which described the agreement to build the Zangezur corridor as “a great betrayal” and warned that it “must not go unanswered” by the Islamic Republic.
“Iran should use the levers at its disposal to confront them and, as a first step, can invoke the Geneva and Jamaica conventions to ban the passage of US- and Israeli-affiliated vessels through the Strait of Hormuz,” wrote the daily on Sunday.
'Corridor will fail,' Khamenei advisor says
Ali Akbar Velayati, senior adviser to Khamenei, also rejected the project, warning Iran would stop its establishment “even without Moscow’s help” and accusing Washington of trying to reshape the South Caucasus.
“Mr Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Velayati told the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency on Saturday.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries," he said, referring to Azerbaijan and Armenia. "It will become their graveyard."
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed the US-brokered peace accord at the White House with US President Donald Trump.
The deal grants Washington exclusive development rights to a strategic route across Armenia linking mainland Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave, bypassing both Iran and Russia.
The White House has promoted the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” as a boost to energy exports and trade in the South Caucasus.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought repeated wars over Nagorno-Karabakh since the late 1980s, most recently in 2023 when Baku regained full control of the enclave. While Russia mediated previous agreements, its sway has diminished since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
In spite of the hardliners' reactions, Iran’s foreign ministry on Saturday welcomed the peace text as an important step toward stability. However, it cautioned that projects near its borders must proceed “within the framework of mutual interests, with respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and without foreign interference.”
Ebrahim Aziz said that Tehran is not afraid of dialogue but accused Washington of repeatedly breaking its commitments.
“Some interpret negotiation as retreat, but this view is incorrect. Iran has consistently engaged with strength and adherence to principles, while the other side has repeatedly violated its obligations,” Azizi said at a press conference.
He added that Iran remains open to talks only if the other party respects the fundamental rules of negotiation.
“No specific date or venue has been set for new talks, and it is possible that the outcome of our assessments will be that negotiating with an uncommitted side is not permissible,” he said.
Azizi reaffirmed Iran’s right to uranium enrichment, saying that while Iran would not negotiate the principle of enrichment, discussions could occur regarding the level and percentage of enrichment.
He also emphasized that lifting sanctions is a critical national interest, but Tehran demands lasting guarantees given past experiences with broken deals.
The 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA) offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for limits on its nuclear program. The US withdrawal under former President Donald Trump in 2018 triggered a gradual unraveling of the deal, with Iran scaling back its commitments and European parties failing to deliver promised economic benefits.
Regarding Iran’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Azizi said Tehran suspended cooperation due to the agency’s misleading reports that “paved the way for military attacks.”
He accused IAEA chief Rafael Grossi of politicizing the agency and said that future cooperation would be restructured according to new parliamentary laws.
Iran’s state-run English-language newspaper Tehran Times reported on Friday that Tehran and Washington may start Norway-mediated indirect talks in August, covering Iran’s nuclear program and compensation demands over the June war with Israel and the US.
The US has called Iran’s compensation demand “ridiculous,” urging Tehran to stop funding militias and its nuclear program.
Iran and the US held five rounds of talks earlier this year; a sixth was suspended after Israeli airstrikes on Iranian sites triggered a 12-day conflict with casualties on both sides.
