Azerbaijan–Iran border
A border in two parts, split by Armenia: one along the Aras River beside Azerbaijan’s exclave of Nakhchivan, the other down the Aras and across the Moghan steppe to the Caspian at Astara. Russia drew it through the middle of the Azerbaijani people in 1813 and 1828; in 2024 Iran’s president died hours after opening a shared dam on it.
Written from cited sourcesLast checked 29 September 2026Suggest a correction
See it on the globe:Azerbaijan →Iran →
Russia’s line on the Aras
Russia crossed the Caucasus in 1801. By the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813 it took the Kura lowlands, dividing the Azerbaijanis, who in the Middle Ages had ruled a prosperous state in Transcaucasia, and by the Treaty of Turkmanchai in 1828 it took Armenia and Nakhchivan and made the Aras the boundary. A Russian bridgehead on the Persian bank opposite the fort of Abbasabad lasted until 1893.[1]
The Aras runs through a gorge below Jolfa, then braids and meanders toward the Kura plain; the line leaves it to cross the salty Moghan steppe and reach the Caspian near the Talish mountains at Astara. Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Armenians and Talyshes live in the region, and Tabriz is its main city. A Soviet-sponsored autonomous republic existed in Iran’s northwest from December 1945 to December 1946.[1]
The Giz Galasi dam
On 19 May 2024 Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Ebrahim Raisi opened the Giz Galasi hydropower facility on the Araz, the first of several joint projects meant to generate power and irrigate farms on both sides. Hours later Raisi was killed when his helicopter crashed into a mountain not far from the site. The meeting marked a new pragmatism after years of rancour; Tehran had seen Azerbaijan’s reconquest of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020–23 as against its interests because of Baku’s ties with Israel and Turkey.[2]
“Iran-Azerbaijan unity and friendship is unshakable. No one can drive a wedge between us.”[2]
Timeline
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]Perspectives: Iranian president’s sudden death will not impact Tehran’s relations with Azerbaijan · Eurasianet (Eldar Mamedov) · 20 May 2024
Map geometry from Natural Earth via world-atlas. See credits.