Deputy Minister: Iran Reliable Transit Route between Persian Gulf, Caspian Sea
Mousavi stressed Iran’s strategic position as a bridge between the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman in the South and the Caspian Sea in the North.
Iran offers the most reliable, secure, and cost-effective transit or swap routes for crude oil, natural gas, petroleum products, and petrochemicals to countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Turkey, Iraq, and international markets in the Persian Gulf region, he added.
Mousavi noted that to activate this potential, Iran’s oil ministry has developed robust infrastructure in the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, and Sea of Oman ports.
He added that connecting Iran’s power grid to neighboring countries could enhance grid stability and create multiple energy exchange markets.
Mousavi stressed Iran’s role as a link between Central Asia and Europe, connecting to emerging economic powers like China and India through its eastern neighbors and to West Asia, North Africa, and Europe through its western neighbors.
Iran also serves as a key electrical connectivity route for Central Asia, the Caucasus, and even Shanghai Cooperation Organization members to the Persian Gulf region, he added.
The CEO of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways announced in June that Turkmenistan is due to transit its sulfur via Rasht-Caspian railway in Northern Iran.
“Considering the Rasht-Caspian railway, we expect to have a good increase in the rail cargo transit area, and we will start the transit of Turkmen sulfur via this path,” Milad Salehi said.
“The Rasht-Caspian railway is the second route connecting the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, and the north and south of the country are connected by the railway,” he added.
Salehi explained that the sulfur comes from Turkmenbashi port to the Caspian port and it will pass through Iran via railway.
Salehi had in 2021 signed a memorandum of understanding on joint railway cooperation with head of the Turkmen Railway Agency.
Following talks between the heads of the Iranian and Turkmen railways, Salehi signed a memorandum of understanding on joint railway cooperation with Azad Atamardovs, the Director-General of Railways Agency of Turkmenistan.
Development of exports and transit, doubling of exchange and acceptance of wagons from Sarakhs railway border, resumption of Artiq-Lotfabad border, holding joint meetings between the representatives of the two countries' railways were among the issues mentioned in the cooperation document between Iran and Turkmenistan.
The implementation of the document will lead to the development of cooperation, increase in the volume of trade, development of rail transportation, and economic prosperity of the two countries.
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