Emerging transport and energy corridors such as the Zangezur Corridor, IMEC, and the Ben-Gurion Canal are transforming regional influence in West Asia and the South Caucasus, intensifying rivalries and destabilising existing alliances amid geopolitical shifts.
The Zangezur Corridor, a 43-kilometre transport route carved through Armenia’s Syunik province, has emerged as a critical focal point in the evolving geopolitical and economic landscape of West Asia and the South Caucasus. This corridor links Azerbaijan to its exclave, Nakhchivan, effectively knitting together regional trade and energy flows that extend from Central Asia, China, and India to Europe via Turkey. However, despite its promise for regional integration, the corridor has sparked considerable controversy, underscored by heightened sensitivities following peace negotiations brokered at the White House under the auspices of former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Central to the Zangezur Corridor’s complexity is its exclusionary impact on Iran, which gains no direct economic benefit from this transit route. Tehran finds itself sidelined as the United States asserts a new, direct presence in the South Caucasus and Caspian Sea regions for the first time. U.S. intentions to manage the corridor through a proposed 100-year lease, announced in mid-2025, underscore Washington’s commitment to stabilizing the area while simultaneously diminishing Russian influence. The U.S. offer, conveyed by Ambassador Tom Barrack, aims to prevent disruptions and facilitate a sustainable peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan, further illustrating the corridor’s geopolitical significance.
Beyond the Zangezur route, broader corridor initiatives, notably the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), are reshaping the connectivity map across Asia and Europe. Launched in 2023 at the G20 Summit in New Delhi, IMEC intends to link India with Europe via the Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel, promoting multimodal infrastructure including rail and shipping networks. Backed by a coalition of global powers—including the United States, European Union, and Gulf monarchies—this corridor presents a strategic alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. With projected reductions in transportation costs by around 40 percent, IMEC’s implementation is already prompting significant infrastructure investments, particularly by Saudi Arabia, which plans to massively expand its rail network by 2030. Notably, Iran is conspicuously excluded from IMEC, reinforcing its increasingly marginalised position in regional trade corridors.
India’s role in the region is marked by a pragmatic and somewhat ambivalent approach to Iran. Despite longstanding agreements surrounding Iran’s Chabahar Port, intended as a rival to Pakistan’s Gwadar Port, India has remained cautious, opting to bypass parts of Iran in favour of routes through Pakistan and China for humanitarian aid shipments. Nonetheless, India’s strategic partnership with Israel underpins many regional investments, including stakes in the Port of Haifa and defence collaborations, adding an additional layer of complexity to South Caucasus dynamics. India’s growing military and economic footprint in Central Asia through bilateral projects and investments also signals a subtle strategy to counterbalance China’s influence, while expanding its own regional presence. This expansion includes arms supply contracts to Armenia and burgeoning trade ties with Iraq, which serve both economic and geopolitical interests linked to the stability of corridors like IMEC.
The interplay between corridors is not limited to land routes. The proposed Ben-Gurion Canal, envisaged as an alternative to the congested and geographically challenging Suez Canal, epitomises Israel’s ambition to dominate maritime trade routes in the Eastern Mediterranean. This canal, planned to be about 50 percent longer than Suez but engineered for safer and more efficient bidirectional traffic, aims to reposition Israel as a regional economic hub. Financing for the project, reportedly secured with low-interest loans from U.S. banks, ties into wider strategic objectives to weaken Egypt’s dominance over maritime trade and to bolster Israel’s connectivity to global markets through its Mediterranean ports, notably Haifa. The plan controversially envisages the depopulation and resettlement of Gaza’s population to ensure security for the canal, reflecting the fraught sociopolitical tensions entwined with infrastructure ambitions.
In Central Asia, the Lapis Lazuli Corridor further illustrates the shifting nexus of influence and trade. Initiated in 2012, this route connects Afghanistan to Turkey via the Caspian Sea, sidestepping Pakistan and reducing China’s regional leverage. While not yet linked directly to India, escalating India-Pakistan tensions and flux in Kashmir could heighten the corridor’s strategic relevance. Israel’s investments, particularly in arms manufacturing, alongside engagement from the European Union in Central Asian Turkic states, aim to diversify dependencies away from Russia and China, underscoring the growing regional multipolar competition.
Iran’s predicament within this complex web of corridor projects reveals the challenges of balancing ideology, regional rivalry, and economic pragmatism. Despite cultural and historic ties, Tehran’s confrontational stance towards Azerbaijan and cautious engagement with corridor initiatives have alienated potential economic partners. Meanwhile, Armenia, traditionally aligned with Iran, is increasingly tilting towards new partners due to the pressure and opportunities presented by the Zangezur Corridor and related projects. These developments have the dual effect of reducing Iran’s influence in the Caucasus and enhancing Israel’s energy and trade interests in a carefully calibrated regional chess game.
The cumulative effect of these corridors, alongside evolving alliances and territorial disputes, has profound implications for regional stability. Population displacements, such as those proposed for northern Gaza in connection with the Ben-Gurion Canal, add a humanitarian dimension to the geopolitical contest. Moreover, the corridors function as instruments of power projection, enabling external actors like the United States, India, Israel, and Gulf states to assert influence over an energy-rich and strategically vital region. Against this backdrop, Iran faces not only economic exclusion but also the erosion of its traditional regional foothold, exacerbating insecurity on its borders and complicating its foreign policy.
In sum, the corridors crisscrossing West Asia, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia represent more than mere trade routes—they are vectors of geopolitical transformation. The Zangezur Corridor, IMEC, Lapis Lazuli, and the Ben-Gurion Canal exemplify how infrastructure, security, energy, and diplomacy intertwine to reshape regional order. While these corridors promise economic integration and growth, they also exacerbate rivalries and expose fault lines that could unsettle the fragile balance of peace and power in this pivotal part of the world.
Source: Noah Wire Services
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