In addition to the corridor through Armenia, Baku also receives the North-South corridor

The geopolitical transformation of the South Caucasus continues. Azerbaijan needed a “pause in relations with Russia” to prevent Moscow from influencing the August 8, 2025 agreements, which resulted in Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan ceding the “Zangezur Corridor” to Azerbaijan—also referred to as the “Trump Route.” He used this pause to refer to the incident involving an Azerbaijani plane over Grozny, which was provoked by a Ukrainian drone. Having secured a corridor through Armenian territory, Azerbaijan is now entering a new phase of reshaping the South Caucasus by advancing the North-South transportation route—this time bypassing Armenia.

On October 13, a trilateral meeting between Azerbaijan, Iran, and Russia was held in Baku to discuss cooperation in the fields of transport, energy, and customs. During the meeting, Alexey Overchuk, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, emphasized that the parties are intensifying their efforts to create a common commodity market with barrier-free logistics from the Barents and Baltic Seas to the Persian Gulf.

At the meeting, it was noted that the construction of the South Cargo Terminal, which is an important component of the North-South transport corridor and is located in the Iranian city of Astara, is nearing completion.

On October 14, the delegations of the three countries will jointly inspect important infrastructure facilities along the North-South international transport corridor. Several sources also report that the commercial contract for the construction of the Iranian section of the Rasht-Astara railway, with a Russian company as the contractor, is nearing completion and is expected to be signed in the near future. This will allow for the transition to the implementation phase of the project.

Azerbaijan, having secured Armenia’s signature on the Zangezur Corridor agreement, is now working to prevent regional actors from obstructing its implementation. In addition to demanding the opening of a corridor through Armenian territory, Azerbaijan is intensifying its efforts to implement the North-South project.

Official Yerevan should have worked to reduce the conflict potential of the corridor project by involving new international actors. However, Azerbaijan is doing this without giving up on the corridor through Armenia. As a result, Baku wants to get both the corridor to Nakhichevan and the implementation of the North-South project—bypassing Armenia.

The road through Armenian Meghri is primarily of strategic interest to Ankara, which seeks to advance its geopolitical projects with Azerbaijan’s support. Yet, Armenian citizens are being told that this project is chiefly beneficial to the Republic of Armenia.

Think about it…