Iran clears security review, hands full Rasht–Astara route to Russian surveyors

Iran's Supreme National Security Council approved the Rasht–Astara railway agreement last week, clearing the transfer of the entire 162-kilometer route to a Russian company for engineering surveys and fieldwork.

Houshang Bazvand, Iran's Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development and head of the Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructures Company (CDTIC), confirmed the decision to the Tasnim news agency. "Thanks to the efforts made by the Supreme National Security Council, the agreement was fortunately approved last week," he said.

The approval resolves a political question that had shadowed the project. Iran's top security body does not routinely bless transport contracts, and its involvement signals that the railway now carries strategic weight in Tehran.

What changed on the ground?

The practical step came on Wednesday, November 5, according to Bazvand's account: the remaining 37 kilometers of land along the route were handed to the Russian side. That closes the loop. Every hectare of the corridor between Rasht and Astara is now available for survey crews.

The consequence is pace. With no land-access disputes left to resolve, Bazvand said, the work will move faster, and Iranian engineers will join the surveys alongside the Russian specialists.

The land transfer was formalized through two documents. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Nikitin announced on November 5 that Russia's Caspian Services and Iran's CDTIC had signed a protocol granting access to land plots along the whole route for advance engineering surveys, plus a supplemental agreement to the main construction contract.

Advance engineering surveys — the detailed study of soil, terrain and hydrology before design is finalized — determine how much of the line's cost estimate holds. The protocol commits both parties to that groundwork stage.

Why does one 162-km line matter?

The Rasht–Astara section closes a gap. Once built, it connects the railway networks of Russia and Iran into a single system, because Astara sits on the Azerbaijani border corridor and Rasht links inland toward Tehran.

The line is a cornerstone element of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), the multi-route freight network meant to move cargo between Russia, Iran and India faster than the sea route through the Suez Canal. A seamless rail connection through Rasht and Astara opens the path onward to the Persian Gulf and, from there, to South Asian markets.

For Russia, the corridor offers a sanctions-resistant trade artery. For Iran, it positions the country as a transit hub between Eurasia and the Indian Ocean rim.

What happens next?

The immediate task is fieldwork. Surveyors from Caspian Services, working with Iranian engineers, must now map the full alignment. No completion date or final construction cost figures appear in the announcements made so far, and the project's timeline has shifted before.

The security council's endorsement removes the last political obstacle in Tehran. The surveys will show whether the 162-kilometer route can be built on the schedule the two governments intend.