Saudi-Iranian Agreement Coheres with Russia’s Plans for Peaceful, Secure Eurasia

March 11, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—Leonid Slutsky, the chairman of Russia’s State Duma’s Foreign Affairs Committee, welcomed the March 10 agreement signed between the governments of Saudi Arabia and Iran, reestablishing diplomatic relations and affirming their commitment to seek peaceful solutions to the problems afflicting the Persian Gulf region and Eurasia more broadly.

Speaking with TASS, Slutsky observed that the normalization of relations between the two nations “corresponds to the spirit of Russia’s Collective Security Concept for the Persian Gulf Region and will contribute to settlement of regional conflicts.” He added that Russia intends to take a number of steps related to that agreement, particularly in the area of economic development.

“In this regard,” Slutsky continued,

“I view the International North-South Transport Corridor project, which will become the key factor for positive feedback for security, stability and development in this most important region, as a strategic one.... The launch of the Corridor will become a milestone event not only in logistics, but also in politics and in security architecture of the Greater Eurasia. It will become the most important economic superstructure atop the strategic basis, achieved in Beijing.”

The full International North South Transport Corridor is an ambitious logistical and transportation connectivity project conceived of as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), parts of which have been completed and others under construction. It plans to run from St. Petersburg in Russia, to Mumbai in India via Astrakhan (Russia) and Baku (Azerbaijan) on the Caspian Sea, across Iran and across the Arabian Sea from Bandar Abbas (Iran) to Mumbai. It is a vitally important strategic project that transits Iran in order to connect the Indian subcontinent with Northern Europe.