TEHRAN -- Iran has emerged as an indispensable force in shaping the future political and security architecture of West Asia, and no external power can sideline or replace its role, a senior adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei said Friday. 
Ali Akbar Velayati, the Leader’s adviser on international affairs, warned that attempts to bypass Tehran in regional transport and energy networks will come at a heavy strategic and economic cost.
In a series of posts on X on Friday, Velayati stated that sweeping geopolitical changes across the region have fundamentally altered the balance of power.
“Now that everyone is talking about a new order in West Asia, it should be remembered that Iran is a bridge connecting the Persian Gulf, Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Sea of Oman. Any energy or transit corridor that seeks to bypass us will either prove costly or become unstable,” he wrote.
Velayati linked the changing regional landscape to the interconnected crises across West Asia, from Gaza and the Red Sea to Lebanon and Iraq, stating that security cannot be compartmentalized.
“The domino effect of crises from Gaza to the Red Sea, and from Lebanon to Iraq, has demonstrated that regional security is indivisible. Either collective security is achieved or everyone will experience collective insecurity,” he said.
He added that the geopolitical transformations sweeping the region have also affected political developments in the United States and the Israeli occupied territories. Iran, he said, is now “one of the principal architects of the regional order”—a reality that could neither be erased nor replaced.
His remarks come amid Tehran’s growing objections to the U.S.-backed Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), which would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave through Armenia’s southern Syunik province, along the Iranian border.
Armenia’s parliament ratified the framework agreement with Washington on October 28, with 63 votes in favor and 32 against. Under the arrangement, the United States will hold a 74-percent stake in the TRIPP Development Company, while Armenia will retain 26 percent for an initial 49-year period.
In an article published in Ettela’at newspaper, Velayati strongly condemned the project, describing the decision by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government as a betrayal of Armenia’s political traditions and national interests.
He recalled that Iran has consistently opposed the proposed Zangezur corridor, citing the position expressed by the former Leader in 2021. Velayati stressed that Tehran considers itself responsible for safeguarding the South Caucasus, with or without Russia.
“I told the Armenian ambassador clearly that if Trump and his allies seek to cross this Iranian red line, we will break their legs,” he warned.