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Mohsen Pakayin, the Iranian ambassador to Azerbaijan, referred to the construction of Iran-Azerbaijan railway in his interview to the Azerbaijani outlet Todaynews.az. “On the territory of Iran, the construction of the Qazvin-Rasht section is about to complete. Negotiations between Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan are underway regarding the participation in the construction of Rasht-Astara section (Iran),” he said.

Panorama.am interviewed the Iranian studies expert Armen Israyelyan to get more detailed information on the topic.

“The construction of Iran-Azerbaijan railway has more political implications rather than economic because certain deadlines of the operation of the railway are being declared for 2-3 years, but the railway not only fails to start to be operated, but the greatest part of it is not even constructed,” Israyelyan told us. “The problem is as follows: the Iranian side plans to complete the Qazvin-Rasht section till the end of the year. According to an agreement, Iran and Russia must construct the Rasht-Astara section (Iran) with joint efforts, and the rest of the construction, including the bridge passage from Iran’s Astara to Azerbaijan’s Astara, as well as an 8-km-long section, must be financed by the Azerbaijan Republic,” he added.

As for the possibility of restarting the railway construction in the near future, the expert noted that the works on the Iranian territory will be completed within a year or two because no matter this railway is connected to Azerbaijan or not, Iran needs it to bring its internal railway network at a full length.

The expert says there are a number of factors the existence of which nullifies, at least for the near future, the possibility of the full operation of the railway. Those are the issue of the legal status of the Caspian, the crisis in the Russian economy, the economic sanctions imposed on Iran, Azerbaijan’s instable financial situation caused by the oil prices, and at last, the instable situation in the region that grows more unpredictable every day.

“Besides, the Turkish factor should be mentioned as well. As it is known, Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan railway was put into operation in late 2014 with the full operation of which Iran’s role will significantly increase in Central Asia – a region of great importance for both Ankara and Tehran. In these circumstances, Ankara will make every effort to hinder its operation to reduce Iran’s influence on the Azerbaijan Republic,” Israyelyan added.