Corridor to the Future

Alexey Baliev, Stoletiye, August 28, 2026 — 

The formation of the Eurasian transit system is nearing completion.

This corridor is the shortest route between many Eurasian countries. Despite US and Israeli aggression against Iran, which includes blocking the international North-South transit corridor (Russia-Azerbaijan-Iran and Iranian ports on the Indian Ocean coast-India), which includes cargo transit between the Caspian ports of Russia and Iran.

Since the middle of this year, there has been an increase in foreign trade traffic here, with the participation of an increasing number of countries – Oman and Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Iraq, Belarus and Indonesia…

Shipping is shifting to two Iranian ports on the Indian Ocean coast, bypassing the Persian Gulf – the Strait of Hormuz – which remain outside the military conflict.

According to the transport authorities of Russia and Iran, total freight traffic along the corridor (in both directions) increased to a record 87% between January and July of this year! Further growth is expected. Moreover, Russian exports directly to Iran along this corridor increased by nearly 60% during this period. By the end of this year, Russian export traffic will at least double compared to 2025 levels.

As a reminder, the North-South Corridor is a comprehensive route stretching nearly 7,300 km, linking St. Petersburg and Murmansk with ports in South Asia via Azerbaijan-Iran-Caspian Sea, with branches via Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan. The main advantage of the North-South Corridor over the traditional route via the Red Sea-Suez Canal-Mediterranean Sea is that cargo delivery time is more than halved (to 15-20 days). Consequently, logistics costs are reduced by 30-40%.

The range of Russian supplies to and via Iran has expanded by more than a third this year. Meanwhile, Iranian supplies via the corridor to Russia increased by approximately a third from January to July of this year, and to Belarus by more than a quarter.

Meanwhile, tightening Western sanctions against Iran and Russia, as well as the conflict in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, are forcing increased logistics support to the Caspian Sea and the Iranian coast of the Indian Ocean. Since August, Iran’s four key Caspian ports have been operating 24/7, ensuring uninterrupted maritime, including ferry, connections with Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan.

The growing international demand for the corridor is also confirmed by the fact that Moscow and Tehran, according to the latest information from both countries’ transport and foreign trade ministries, are preparing to sign documents in September with Qatar, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain to connect their transit infrastructure to the corridor. Iran’s Ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, explained in this regard that, despite Iran’s retaliatory attacks on Qatar and Saudi Arabia (due to shelling and bombing of Iran from US military bases), they are quite capable of connecting to the North-South Corridor and utilizing the capabilities of their own and Iranian ports, as well as the entire transport infrastructure. This is because current geopolitical conditions “have demonstrated, as never before, the international importance of such an extensive network.”

According to the Russian Ministry of Transport, options for a railway corridor to Pakistan, and through Pakistan to India, China, and Nepal, are also being explored. It is anticipated that the eastern route of the corridor will be opened first: through the Caspian regions of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and eastern Iran, with a railway linking it to Pakistan.

Since mid-2025, freight transport between Bangladesh and the Union State of Russia and Belarus has already been carried out along the North-South corridor and further through central India or along the Bay of Bengal.

Of strategic importance is also the agreement between Iran and Iraq (July this year) on the construction by 2029 of a third railway connecting Iran with Iraq (Khosravi-Naftkhaneh-Baghdad), although the EU and the US have already officially expressed dissatisfaction with this project.

As the Iranian news agency Tasnim notes, “if the project is implemented, this highway will contribute to the formation of a new important transport corridor in the Middle East, with subsequent access to interregional transport networks.”

Thus, the North-South corridor will receive – through Iraq and its three ports in the Persian Gulf – an additional, and expanded, configuration.

In the early 2020s, regular container train services were established along the entire corridor route, including branch lines to several neighboring countries. By the second half of this year, container cargo shipments were growing steadily, including by sea and ferry services (on the Caspian Sea and between Iran and India). And since approximately mid-2025, transit ports in Pakistan have been partially involved in these shipments.

Mikhail Kabakov, First Deputy Minister of Industry, Trade, and Energy of the Astrakhan Region, noted: “Currently, within the North-South corridor, trade and cargo transportation are concentrated primarily on the Russian-Iranian route. This geography needs to be expanded: beyond Iran, a large number of Middle Eastern countries are opening up that are interested in expanding trade and transportation with Russia. Iraq is also interested in the same.”

Meanwhile, Iraq’s leadership has expressed interest in the country joining BRICS and its intention to become part of the North-South Corridor, expanding it to Baghdad and Iraq’s Persian Gulf ports.

In short, with the participation of Russia, several CIS countries, and the Middle East, the formation of a Eurasian transit system is being completed. Attempts by Washington and Tel Aviv to block it are clearly failing.