Iran28 September, 20262 min read
Iran Seeks Immediate Electricity From Azerbaijan as Jolfa-Kalaleh Expansion Boosts Trade
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Trade between Iran and Azerbaijan rose over the past six months. Julfa-Kalaleh expansion increases transport capacity and trade between the two.
Electricity and corridors
Iran’s energy needs pushed Tehran to seek more electricity from Azerbaijan, and TAVANIR head Mohammad Allahdad told Azerbaijan’s deputy energy minister Elnur Soltanov that Iran needed the additional power “immediately before winter.” Azerbaijan supplied 72.2m kWh of electricity in January and February, and Azerbaijan was described as Iran’s main buyer with expectations for the highest figures in bilateral transfers during summer 2026.
“Iran needed more electricity from Azerbaijan, and it needed it immediately before winter.”
Azerbaijan’s deputy prime minister Shahin Mustafayev also met Iran’s transport minister Farzaneh Sadegh to push forward the International North-South Transport Corridor, a 7,200km multimodal route linking Russia, the Caspian states and India to the Persian Gulf. Farzaneh Sadegh said the Jolfa-Kalaleh route expansion project could increase transport capacity and trade volume between the two countries, and she framed bilateral ties as “friendly, brotherly and strategic.”
Trade rises despite war
Farzaneh Sadegh said bilateral trade between Iran and Azerbaijan increased over the past six months despite “the problems and conditions caused by the war in the region.” Farzaneh Sadegh said infrastructure development and removing obstacles would help sustain the trade trend, and she described the Jolfa-Kalaleh route expansion as “seriously advancing.”
Shahin Mustafayev told reporters that the volume of trade between Iran and Azerbaijan has increased and that, within the framework of the North-South international corridor, the movement of goods has shown an increasing trend. Shahin Mustafayev said joint projects were progressing and that the construction of a bridge over the Aras River and the Aghband-Kalaleh project and the Astara railway cargo terminal are “nearly completed.”
What comes next
Azerbaijan’s deputy prime minister Shahin Mustafayev said the INSTC capacity is being expanded in phases toward 15m tonnes annually, with an interim target of 5m tonnes from January 2028 under agreements reached with Russia. AzerNews said container shipments along the corridor’s western route through Astara rose 58.3% in the first ten months of the most recent reporting year, and it said the Rasht-Astara railway in Iran is the “missing link” that cannot allow the corridor to operate at its full potential.
AzerNews said the project was expected to kick off right after the Novruz holiday, and it said the Astara terminal facility constructed by Azerbaijan Railways is scheduled to be completed during the first quarter of 2026. Farzaneh Sadegh said the groundwork is laid for further development of cooperation between the two countries across various areas, and she said it is “certain that in the future we will witness an expansion of relations and bilateral cooperation.”