The Russian government long assumed that Western sanctions on Iran would allow it to steal a march on the world by expanding its railroad connections to the south via the Islamic Republic while simultaneously ensuring that the South Caucasus remains a Moscow-dominated hub for both east-west and north-south rail transit (see EDM, February 20, March 24). But China has responded by expanding its own westward rail connections through Central Asia—and not only across the Caspian Sea, as Moscow expected, but via Iran as well (see EDM, April 23). As a result, Russia now appears to be losing out in the regional “railroad wars” (see EDM, August 1, 2017). Illustratively, a subsidiary of Russian Railways has recently announced it is suspending its infrastructure projects in Iran, including critical portions of the north-south route (Old-press.rzd.ru, April 2).
