17 Oct 2026
U.S. Pledges ‘Further Action’ If Russia-Iran Rail Deal Evades Sanctions
The State Department said on Wednesday it will “monitor and pay close attention” to the latest Russia-Iran rail deal, and that any efforts to go around sanctions would be of immense concern “and something that the United States would not hesitate to take further action on,” as Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel put it, TURAN’s Washington Correspondent reports.
Moscow and Tehran on Wednesday signed an agreement on the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway section, a corridor that is deemed to be intended to rival the Suez Canal and prevent sanctions.
Patel, when pressed by reporters during a daily press briefing, said: “I don’t have an assessment to make on this specific project, but there is a reason that we enforce such a strict sanctions regime, and any efforts to go around those would be of immense concern to us.”
He went on to conclude, “We have not parsed our words about the deepening of the cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Iranian regime”
Alex Raufoglu
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