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US uses investment in South Caucasus as vehicle to up its influence there, Tehran says

"It is necessary to observe with extreme caution the future steps of the American side," Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said

DUBAI, August 11. /TASS/. US' economic projects in the South Caucasus may be a cover to expand America's influence in the region, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan by telephone.

"It is necessary to observe with extreme caution the future steps of the American side, which, under the guise of investment projects and peace-loving statements, may actually be trying to establish its hegemony in the South Caucasus," Peseshkian said on Telegram.

According to the Iranian president, Armenia should not allow armies of third countries to implement the transport corridor project, which will connect the main part of Azerbaijan with its enclave in Nakhichevan.

Earlier, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Armenia and Azerbaijan had removed the creation of the extraterritorial Zangezur corridor from the agenda. The diplomat said that Iran's concerns at the moment are related to the expansion of foreign influence in the South Caucasus, and Tehran is consulting with Yerevan on this topic.

On August 8, following a trilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Pashinyan signed a joint declaration on a peaceful settlement between Baku and Yerevan and the creation of a transport corridor between the two Transcaucasian republics. The transport corridor will be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. Armenia has granted the United States the right to manage this corridor for 99 years.

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