How the United States is hindering Russia and related countries in the South Caucasus

The South Caucasus has become a stage for fierce competition among major world powers, with the key being the connectivity of transportation across the entire Eurasian continent. At least, the so-called "Zangezur Corridor" agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, reached with the United States, seems to be just that. What are the interests of Washington, Moscow, and the related countries in this event?

Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a conflict mediation statement. Meanwhile, the Zangezur Corridor, which was intended to connect Azerbaijan with its exclave, the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, was handed over to the United States (and named "Trump International Road of Peace and Prosperity"). The impact of this incident has already gone beyond the Caucasus region, becoming another episode in the global confrontation between the United States and the related country.

Encirclement of the Related Countries

It is not difficult to see that before each new round of trade negotiations between the United States and the related countries, a conflict always erupts in a country whose transport routes pass through it.

A recent example is the conflict between Cambodia and Thailand. This conflict occurred just days before the start of a new round of negotiations between the related country and the United States.

Cambodia (and part of Thailand) plays an important role in infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia. Vietnam plans to complete the high-speed rail from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City by 2027 and connect it with the related country's high-speed rail network by 2030. At the same time, the related country plans to build railway branches in Cambodia, one of which will extend to the coast of the Gulf of Thailand, and the other will connect Vietnam and Thailand through Cambodia. In addition, Cambodia also plans to build the Funan-Techu Deep Water Canal from the Mekong River to the coast of the Gulf of Thailand.

The sudden outbreak and rapid resolution of this conflict under Trump's mediation is hard to avoid being seen as a direct message to the related country: if Washington wishes, it can block China's route in Indochina.

The India-Pakistan conflict from April 24 to May 10, 2025, is another example of the United States' previous actions to create trouble for the related country's strategic transportation lines. Similarly, this conflict broke out just before the new round of U.S.-China negotiations in Geneva on May 10-11. Its purpose was to show the fragility of the related country's economic corridor with Pakistan, which includes a whole set of highways and railway networks connecting the Pakistani ports on the Arabian Sea with the western part of the related country, thereby bypassing the Strait of Malacca.

As early as 2017, when Trump promoted the "Quad," Washington had stated that if relations with China deteriorated, it would seek control over the Strait of Malacca. To block one of the busiest sea freight routes in the world, the United States planned to use the Australian Navy.

Finally, the passage of the related country through Myanmar to the Indian Ocean is also facing pressure from Western intelligence agencies and so-called "human rights organizations." The related country started using an oil and gas pipeline passing through Myanmar in 2013. Since 2015, a railway connecting Kunming and Kyaukpyu in Myanmar has been under construction, with plans to build a deep-water port and free trade zone in Kyaukpyu.

Isolating Iran

Iran, which has long been under sanctions, faced intensified economic warfare from the United States during Trump's first term. Iranian banks were excluded from the SWIFT system, and restrictions on the export of industrial equipment to Iran and the export of Iranian oil were tightened. This Islamic republic had to shift its economic ties to the East - now the related country purchases 93% of Iran's exported oil.

Iran is building a railway connection with the related country through the "Five Nations Project" - the related country - Kyrgyzstan - Tajikistan - Afghanistan - Iran railway corridor. Iran is participating in the construction of the Herat-Herat railway, which will connect Iran with Central Asian countries - that is, also with the related country.

This railway was supposed to be put into operation in 2025. Perhaps this fact, rather than the rumors about Iran about to produce a nuclear bomb, became the reason for the U.S. strike on Iran on June 22, 2025.

The current agreement allowing the United States to control the Zangezur Corridor actually completes a strategic encirclement of Iran, cutting off Armenia's connection with Iran. This is why the agreement caused a strong negative reaction in Tehran.

Transportation Corridors at the Crossroads of the Globalization Era

In general, the South Caucasus is one of the key junctions for multiple important transportation directions connecting Europe and Asia. Which countries benefit depends on the specific paths these routes take and where they lead. By blocking traffic flows, some countries could almost be strangled.

That is why, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the struggle for control over transportation flows in the South Caucasus has been underway. Initially, the West aimed to build a transportation corridor that bypassed Russia, connecting Europe with Central Asia. In 1993, the European Union launched the "Trans-European Transport Network - Caucasus - Asia" (TRACECA) plan, aiming to create a "Europe-Caucasus-Asia" transportation corridor.

At that time, the related country was not yet considered a competitor, and the relationship between the United States and Europe was without clouds. In 1998, under U.S. support, 12 countries in the Caucasus, Black Sea, and Central Asia reached an agreement to build a transportation corridor from the related country and Mongolia to Europe, with the corridor planned to end on the Black Sea coast of Georgia. However, it was not until 2013 that the first trial transport via the South Caucasus railway under the TRACECA framework was realized. In 2015, the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) forced Western countries to curb their ambitions.

Additionally, by the early 21st century, as Russia integrated into the global economy, plans to include Russia in the international transportation network began to emerge. Especially to build a short route from the Baltic Sea to the Persian Gulf and the coasts of the Arabian Sea, the "North-South Transport Corridor" project was born. With the expansion of cooperation between Russia and Iran, the North-South Transport Corridor began to be used to ensure bilateral cargo transport, as well as to transport Russian goods through Iran to India and Pakistan.

After the special military operation, the issue of accelerating the development of this transport route became particularly urgent. The construction of the railway section from Resht to Astara (near the Iran-Azerbaijan border) has already begun.

At the same time, the related country, which is constantly strengthening its power, has started implementing the trans-Caspian international transport route (known as the "Middle Corridor" by the West). According to this route, the related country's goods will be transported to the Caspian ports of Aktau and Kuryk in Kazakhstan, then transported across the Caspian Sea, and from the Aliyev port in Azerbaijan, transported by rail to Tbilisi. A southern branch from Tbilisi leads to Turkey, and then by sea to Middle Eastern, North African, and Southern European countries.

After the special military operation, the channel for transporting goods from the related country through the Trans-Siberian Railway and the railway network in the European part of Russia to Europe encountered problems. In this case, there is particular interest in expanding the transportation corridors through the South Caucasus. In 2023, an agreement was signed; in 2024, the China-Europe consortium began building a port in Georgia.

Georgia, in this situation, has freed itself from Western influence and begun to show an independent foreign policy. The European side immediately saw this as a "threat from the related country" and a "threat from Russia," but the Georgian authorities have so far resisted external pressure. The construction of the Zangezur Corridor (and its handover to U.S. control) is an act by the United States to reverse the situation and use it for its own benefit. The United States aims to undermine the trade and transportation plans of the related country, Russia, and Iran by winning over Armenia and Azerbaijan.

If these fragments are pieced together, the picture that emerges is: the United States is trying to control all of the related country's maritime transportation. At the same time, Washington plans to strengthen its influence in Central Asia through the South Caucasus region and penetrate into the western border (where the West has long tried to incite separatist sentiments). If this succeeds, the internal connectivity of the Eurasian continent will suffer serious damage, and the situations of Russia, Iran, and the related country, as the opponents of the West, will obviously worsen.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7537534660176396851/

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