A senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader said Iran is pushing a strategy to link security with economic development in its southeast, arguing that closer trade with neighboring countries will blunt the impact of US sanctions.
Major General Yahya Safavi, also head of the Sacred Defense Sciences and Teachings Research Institute, said a national conference focused on sustainable development and security in Iran’s southeast aims to produce an operational strategy for the region, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“The country’s southeast region is a hidden treasure... This region has unique capacities with geopolitical, geostrategic, and geocultural significance. It can develop economic potential that serves as an alternative to an oil-based economy.”
Safavi said the region, spanning parts of Sistan-Baluchistan, Kerman, Hormozgan and South Khorasan provinces, accounts for about one-fifth of Iran’s territory and around one-tenth of its population.
He said 64 academic centers and universities, along with armed forces institutions, are participating in the initiative.
“Security and development are interconnected and must be pursued together,” Safavi said, adding that security in the region is provided through coordination between the Revolutionary Guards, the army and other forces.
He said the southeast’s 1,400 km (870 miles) of shared borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan give it the potential to function as an economic corridor, noting that current trade with Pakistan totals about 2 million tons annually and that the capacity of Chabahar port runs into several million tons.
He called on state bodies and investors to focus on the Makran coast and surrounding areas, describing them as national assets requiring special attention, and said a proposed monitoring center would track economic and security indicators and report regularly to the public.
Referring to US sanctions, including those affecting Chabahar port, Safavi said Iran should deepen economic ties with its 15 neighbors.
“If we strengthen private-sector trade with neighboring countries, the Americans cannot control Iran’s economic relations,” he said, adding that despite US pressure, “they cannot stop us.”
