NEW YORK, July 16. /TASS/. Russia has the key role in creating a gas hub in Iran and expanding the North-South international transport corridor, Iran’s acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani said.

"We can talk about the role of Russia when it comes to the expansion of the international transit corridor and <…> in order to transform Iran into the energy hub of the region and to send Russian gas through Iran to other parts of the world or to eastern and southern parts of my country," he told the US magazine Newsweek.

"If the regional countries try to ensure the required interaction, engagement, cooperation and synergy together, there will be no gap established in order to let foreign countries to penetrate into the region," the politician said, adding that consolidation of economic relations should follow "the establishment of the mutual political confidence among the regional countries."

On June 26, Russia’s Gazprom and National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) signed a strategic memorandum on consideration of organization of Russian gas supplies to Iran. It was noted by participants of the talks that the beginning of the way of gas cooperation between the two countries would lead to larger agreements and contracts signed in the future. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said earlier that Moscow and Tehran were discussing with the participation of Qatar and Turkmenistan the creation of an energy hub, as well as swap supplies to Iran’s north and the possibility of creating an online platform for gas trade in the south of the Islamic republic.

On May 17, 2023, Russia and Iran signed an agreement to jointly build the Rasht - Astara railroad segment, which will make it possible to connect overland sections of the North - South international transport corridor and boost the economic efficiency of the Trans-Caspian route. Russia will extend a 1.3 bln euro sovereign loan to implement the project, with its total cost estimated at 1.6 bln euro.

An intergovernmental agreement on the creation of the multimodal transport corridor North-South spanning 7,200 km was signed by Russia, India and Iran in 2000. Later, the number of participants rose to 14. The project is aimed at attracting transit of cargo flows from India, Iran and the Persian Gulf countries through Russian territory to Europe.