Armenia–Iran border
About 25 miles of the Aras river. With Armenia’s border with Türkiye closed since 1993, this crossing and the routes through Georgia have been Armenia’s main ways out to the world.
Written from cited sourcesLast checked 29 September 2026Suggest a correction
See it on the globe:Armenia →Iran →
The Aras line
Russia crossed the Caucasus in 1801. After a war with Persia it took Armenia and Nakhchivan by the Treaty of Turkmenchay in 1828, making the Aras river the border. The line west of the Caspian changed little afterwards.[1]
A Soviet–Iranian convention signed in Moscow in December 1954 set the border along the Aras’s deepest channel, rather than its Iranian bank as the 1828 treaty had said, and by 1957 a mixed commission had marked the line west of the Caspian. Along the Aras, the stretch facing Soviet Armenia began at the Aras gorge, 35 miles below Jolfa, and ran 25 miles downstream to the Azerbaijani border.[1]
A lifeline
Türkiye closed its land border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with Azerbaijan during the first Nagorno-Karabakh war, and Armenia has depended since on limited routes through Georgia and Iran. In early 2026 Türkiye and Armenia took practical steps towards reopening it.[4]
After the United States and Israel went to war with Iran on 28 February 2026, Iran’s southern ports came under a US naval blockade and trade shifted to its land borders. By September 2026, up to 1,800 trucks were queuing for days at the Norduz crossing from Armenia to enter Iran.[3] At the Agarak checkpoint in March, CivilNet found refugees crossing from Iran, but no crowds.[2]
Timeline
1828
Treaty of Turkmenchay
Russia takes Armenia and Nakhchivan; the Aras becomes the border.[1]
1954December 1954
Moscow convention
The Soviet–Iranian border is delimited along the Aras channel.[1]
1957
Demarcation
The line west of the Caspian is marked.[1]
1993
Turkish border closed
Armenia comes to rely on Georgia and Iran.[4]
202628 February 2026
War on Iran
Trade shifts to Iran’s land borders, including Armenia’s.[3]
More borders
Sources
- [1]International Boundary Study No. 25 (Revised): Iran – U.S.S.R. Boundary · US Department of State, Office of the Geographer · 28 February 1978
- [2]What is happening at the Iran–Armenia border? · CivilNet · 12 March 2026
- [3]Iran shifts trade north to Caspian Sea as war impairs Strait of Hormuz · Al Jazeera · 27 September 2026
- [4]Türkiye-Armenia border reopening: Turning point for South Caucasus · Eurasianet (Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst) · 2026
Map geometry from Natural Earth via world-atlas. See credits.