Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian will begin a two-day visit to Belarus and Armenia on Monday, as tensions rise in the South Caucasus over what Tehran perceives as growing U.S. influence in Armenia’s southern Zangezur corridor, which borders Iran.
Pezeshkian will first travel to Minsk, where he is scheduled to meet with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko. The visit is viewed as a reciprocal gesture following Lukashenko’s March 2023 trip to Tehran—his first in 17 years—where he met with then-President Ebrahim Raisi. Both Iran and Belarus have joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) within the past two years, and the upcoming talks are expected to focus on implementing bilateral agreements and strengthening economic ties.
After Belarus, Pezeshkian will continue to Armenia, where he will participate in a business forum involving representatives from Iran’s key industries, including road construction, agriculture, logistics, pharmaceuticals, engineering services, and light manufacturing.
The visit comes as Iran has grown increasingly vocal about the peace framework signed in Washington, D.C., earlier this month between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The deal reportedly includes a 99-year lease granting U.S. companies development rights over the Zangezur corridor in southern Armenia. The corridor would link Azerbaijan with its exclave of Nakhchivan and potentially place U.S. security assets directly on Iran’s northern border—an outcome Tehran has warned it will not tolerate.
Iranian officials have repeatedly threatened to use military force if necessary to prevent any foreign power from controlling southern Armenia. Since the Washington deal was signed on August 8, contacts between Tehran and Yerevan have intensified.
Last Monday, Pezeshkian held a phone call with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, cautioning him against pursuing “hegemonic goals” regarding the Zangezur corridor. The following day, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi spoke with his Armenian counterpart, Ararat Mirzoyan, to reiterate Iran’s opposition to U.S. involvement in the corridor.
On Saturday, Ali Larijani, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), held a phone call with Armen Grigoryan, Secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, in which Larijani underscored Armenia’s “strategic significance” in Iran’s regional security calculus.