Iran said it would stop the construction of a transit corridor envisaged in the new United States–brokered peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan, calling the project a threat to regional security. Ali Akbar Velayati, senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told the Tasnim news agency on Saturday that Tehran would block the route "with or without" help from Moscow and warned it would become "a graveyard for Trump’s mercenaries." The planned passage, commonly known as the Zangezur corridor and rebranded by Washington as the "Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity" (TRIPP), would cut across southern Armenia to link Azerbaijan with its Nakhichevan exclave and onward to Turkey. The agreement, signed at the White House on 8 August by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, grants the United States exclusive development rights over the corridor. Iran argues the project could sever its land connection with Armenia, invite a permanent U.S. presence on its border and upset the South Caucasus balance of power. Velayati said recent Iranian military exercises near the frontier demonstrated the country’s readiness to prevent "any geopolitical change" in the area. While Iran’s foreign ministry welcomed the broader Armenia-Azerbaijan peace accord as a step toward lasting stability, it reiterated that any foreign intervention "in the vicinity of common borders" would be unacceptable. Moscow, traditionally a power broker in the region, offered only cautious support for the U.S.-led initiative, stressing solutions devised by regional states. Washington has promoted the corridor as a commercial and energy gateway that could reshape South Caucasus trade routes.