Well more trade activity, and also its going to make you run a center of transport or be one of the connections making iran a center of transport, National Network and regional integration, the other pluses for iran, but outside interferences when it comes to this, namely us, preventing the construction of this project, and it also does not want iran to advance. Iran and iraq have laid the Foundation Stone for the crossborder railway line connecting the two neighboring countries. The railway will connect iraqs vastra running bordertown of shalam cheh, crossborder Railway Project serves as introduction to strategic transportation projects that would connect iraq and neighboring countries. Officials said the 32 km rail will be completed in 18 to 24 months. Tempron and baghdad first inked an agreement to develop the route in 2014, but the project was halted after the Daesh Terrorist Group began to conduct is violent offensive through large parts of iraq. As part of the project, iran aims to build an overpass on the waterway that divised the. Countries known as the arvan river in iran and shatal arab in iraq. The railroad is ultimately envisioned to link iran to the mediterranean shores of syria. There are some speculations that iraq may be prioritizing the Development Project with turkey or shalam chasra. Development road, due to be completed in 2025, aims to use railway and a parallel motorway to connect the southern port of alfah in busra governor it to turkey. The Railway Project connecting the border. City of shalamj in iran and the city of bazra in iraq will play a very Important Role in the transportation of goods when completed. It will positively affect our economic ties as well as tourism. Time now to take a look at some of the postings on this. This is the topic obviously that many are not uh very aware of so we zoomed in on websites to see whats being discussed. First up why is the shalam shasar so. Important and iraq, tehran and baghdad to begin the construction of the railing after decades of planning, but challenges do remain. Now what on to say, it will facilitate the movement of millions of iranian pilgrims, heading to holy sites in iraq, and then there has been speculation over the years that baghdad has been dragging its feet on the project with iranian media speculating that the us may be nudging it to slow down. Next, railway of resistance, a grand project to connect iran, iraq and. Syria beyond its positive economic implications, the Railway Project connecting iran, iraq and syria will be geopolitical game changer by connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the persian gulf. It adds irans intention to construct a railway line of connecting the persian gulf to the Mediterranean Sea, the iran, iraq, syria railway, link, as its called. An ambitious project would run from busara in southern iraq to abu kamal on the iraqiran. In Syrian Border and then extend to der azure in northeastern syria. Next, deep dive will iran, iraq rail ambitions turn into reality. Iran drives the project. It said the Rc Administration is using the rail project as part of a strategy to secure its regional position, creating diverse transit routs with neighboring countries that employ sea, road and rail connections. Adding tehran is of pursuing the basra shalamsha railway, conjunction with connections to. Ports on the persian gulf and a wide expansion of irans National Railway network that entails at least 15 major projects. All right, some of the opinions there through the website. Bees through, which we relate to you, lets see what our guests think, this is our first q a. Let me introduce them. First up, we have ahmed salhi joining us, he is a political economy analyst. Ahmed sali, welcome to economic divide, so we have this announcement, which is major one uh that has been uh really going on for decades, but finally its been announced that its going to be completed this Railway Project, which will collect uh with othern iraq, but to the point where its so significant, why is this such an important Railway Project . Yes, thank you for the question, actually what i can tell you is that according to the statistics, the global statistics, 60 of the trade of any country is with the neighbors, if you exclude china, it means that even when we are talking about the great britain, we are we are facing more than 53 . The trade with the surrounding countries, so this is the importance of neighboring countries each other, and in case of iraq of course, which is huge Oil Production and low Production Capacity in consuming products, it means that the main trade between iran and iraq is not energy, actually it is going to be the consuming product, of course iran is now exporting electricity to iraq, but in future we will uh be more witnessing exporting of consuming goods and products to the neighboring iraq countries. Thank you for that uh let me bring in now ali alashmi historian and iraq Affairs Expert alian nashmi, welcome to economic divide. Do you agree with what our guest there said that this is going to be about products . I think this is a project its very important for both country because country suffering from the same enemy, iran suffering the bloccade from United States and iraq suffering from under the table from many countries blockade and and you know the cost of the iraq is is very very narrow, iraq need another gates to to transport their trade and to make his country is base for the trade of the world, especially in the asia and even iran want to make their land is pace uh for or channel for the trade from asia, asia growth and become the the largest in economy in the world, then that economy need some gates and various gates, then import iran is the geography of iran is very important for them, then iran will use that link for their trade and for another. Pakistan, uzbekistan, tajikistan, turkmenistan, china uh and another uh country. As predicted, ryad under pressure from washington may accept flimsy zist american promises, so that the wind will set offwards what called the new middle east. Zionists like deceased shimon perez had always drummed of. There is no arab world nor a palestinian cause in the map that netanyahu heralds rather there is a Regional Power sold the zionist supported by the United States of america plunders from arabs oil money to establish its superiority. Alas everything is now out in the open. Normalizing relations between saudi arabia and the israeli entity will lead to the palestinians losing a friend was only ashamed to deal with the zionists in public and now has the chance to. It openly, saudi arabia embarraces zits this week on the midd stream the program, iran and iraq have announced that work a railroad link the two countries will begin, something that was initially planned decades ago, when complete, it will facilitate the movement of millions of iranian pilgrims, as for an example, along with the economic benefits that b will reap from trade, so lets find out what this is all about. First up, were going to take a look a map to give you an idea about the geography of the railroad. Now as you can see over here, the railroad is to connect the Iranian Border town of shalamche with the southeastern iraq city of basra, as you see the trail tracks there connecting the two, which will transport transport passengers and also cargo. Next, lets take a look at some the specs for this project of shalam basta rail. In terms of the goals, as mentioned, it will connect iran and iraq, also, as a result of that trade is going to increase naturally between the two countries, one of to fulfill religious pilgrimage, thats pretty important, its also going to facilitate cargo transit and the use of iranian south ports, so you can see how this rail is important when it comes to the ports, we also connect with syrian railway and the mediterranean shores, in terms of the connection options, araq, kermanshavi cord, thats important and the dharran, corridor, then in terms of rail distance, 34,5 kilometers, rail stops, theres three, and the approximate cost on this is 200 million dollars. Okay, the specs. Onto the next graph, this is pretty important, because its part of the project which is uh difficult, its aim is to build an overpass on the waterway that divides the two countries. Its known as uh the shat al arab and the arvand river in iran. Shat arap in iraq. Officials the bridge needs to be movable because ships need to be able to pass. Under it, so thats a pretty big undertaking, given the fact youre looking at for example, lots of minds, perhaps, a project that was actually delayed because of the daish terrorists. Lets move to the next graph, what is the railways geopolitical significance is our focus here, youre going to find that out in a minute, mean its not just about improving trade relations between iran and iraq, as you can see over there, the port is right above that, and the trade route, the. Project is going to go through the routes that you see and thats important because iran is under harsh us sanctions, this way its going to cement is regional position uh at the center of major transportation lines, and another thing, the railroad is going to connect iran to the mediterranean shores of syria, as you can see over here, holmes and damascus also being one of the offshots there in terms of al bukamal and then damascus through homes, also one of the connections, and then uh lataka, uh, this as the us uh sees is a threat because this pretty much spells uh the access of resistance when it comes to the countries that iran is going to connect to. All right, lets find out what a guest things about this. Let me bring bring back ahmad, hes a political econ economy analyst who rejoins us. Ah, welcome back economic divide. Um, when you take a look at the project, it is reported that the us is trying to actually. Iran on this project, some of the news is indicating that coming out of iraq, why would the us target this Railway Project, what are the matters of concern for the us do you think on this . Yeah, if we take into account what i described as a corridor diplomacy, then you know that corridors act like a chain, and if you control one ring of this chain, it means that literally youre controlling the. All corridor, so and if you also take into account that the main priority of the United States is to control or constraint the huge economy of china, it means that this corridor play a significant role or possess a significant value for United States in controlling china, and we know that if one ring of the corridor or one ring of the chain is controlled, the whole corridor is controlled, so this is very important for. States to prevent connection of china to europe through iran, iraq and these relatively independent countries. All right, thats pretty important, as matter of fact, what mattsali or guess there mentioned is going to be covered in the uh, quick take section with mahdi abbastian, in which mahdi expands further, what he was referring to there in terms of stopping china, which iran is part of that equation when it comes to the belton road initiative. All right, lets bring back our next guest, ali. Historian and iraq Affairs Expert. Alian nasmi, welcome back uh same question to you, what do you think, why is the us concerned about this Railway Project . Yes, united state will fight, fight to stop that project, to prevent iraq, to separate iraq from iran, because any cooperation between iraq and iran that its not in the interest of United States. United state needs iraq week and iran week, because the main enemy for United States now, its iran. They thought that iran they cannot destroy it by army because now the army of iran and have very strategy weapon, they cannot fight them by women, they try to or they insist to fight them by economy, by destroyed the their country, then any link between iraq and iran that mean the dividing the economy on iran and will be iran many resist for the american policy, then i think then another another goal, because any link between iraq and iran will make iraqi more strength, have many strength, thats the thing they will use it against to face the. American policy, american policy now in iraq is very strong because iraq is very weak, weak its economic weakness. The railroad between iran and iraq can vastly benefit both countries. The shalam tabbasta railroad is to also connect mountain najaf and kula and iraq, easing the of transporting millions of pilgrims who go through iran to the muslim holy sites in those cities. Iran could benefit from improved transportation and more trade as it positions itself at the center of major transportation lines. High volume of goods exported from iran to iraq has cost the issue of transformation infrastructure between the countries to be of great importance, and according to experts with construction. The shalamshire, the income of the iranian railways will increase significantly. The Cargo Capacity of this railway is between 8 and 10 million tons and its Passenger Capacity is 12 million people. Iran is pursuing more than dozen major rail projects as the country expands its National Network and works on real the iranian Railway Network is undergoing major transformation through series of schemes including the construction of new lines, the amount of investment is reported to be around 8 billion us dollars. The 13th government, headed by ibrahim raisi is investing heavily in Transportation Systems with a particular focus on railroads. This is not just for domestic use, but also to expand connectivity with neighboring countries, to ultimately provide a transit road for railway between china and europe. The domestic Railway Expansion is very ambitious. Iran needs to make sure it is fulfilling demand inside of iran in order to contribute to the countrys economy and expand its economic growth. There are currently 28 projects underway in iran totaling around 500 kilometers to be completed by the end of 2026. There are additional 16 routes totaling 520 kilometers that are in progress which includes repairs and construction schemes. Another key project, the completion. The final section of the rash asta rail project which involves russia who has offered to finance this project. This will connect the iranian rail network to azerbaijan to be completed within the next three years. It is estimated that 1 million passengers as well as 10 million tons of cargo will be transported in the first year of the operation. The project can bring about 20 billion dollars for the country annually. There are outsiders. However, that want to limit irans International Trade roots, especially when it comes to irans integration within chinas one belt one road initiative. Israel and the us in particular are striving to compete or curtail irans trade and economic ambitions. The recent g20 summit in new delhi witnessed the launch of a 20 billion dollar india, middle east europe corritor, an ambitious multiproged network aiming to connect goods and services between europe. And asia via west asia. You just spoke about that great promise in the g20 meeting that uh, you uh participated and led, you uh spoke about economic corridor that would link uh asia, the middle east and europe together, and such a corridor will uh will make israel very important hub a a highway of unprecedented prosperity. And there are no efforts. To hide the goals of this initiative, it is touted as an alternative trade corridor to chinas belt and road initiative, a geopolitical counterweight to china and its belt and road initiative. The us even said says, this will check russias interconnectivity aspirations. Israels attempt to thort iran will be fudal, for it cant alter irans geographic location. Iran is conveniently positioned in the world in such a way that it makes an ideal transportation hop. Additionally, iran has seen a sudden rise in its importance as a transit and transport hop, connecting china and central asia to europe, and also russia with india along the. International north south transport corridor and that does it for this quick take section, send us your comments or any feedback, especially on ways we can improve this section of the program. Im mahi abbasian and ill see you next week. The shalomcha railway is just one of many rail connections that iran is pursuing, what promises to be economic boom when it comes to income generated from this mode of transportation. Now this despite other competitors who are posing as competitors, like israel, the us or turkey for that matter, but no one can replace norans geographical position, which is why it makes it a transportation hub. Never mind how it plays into the equation of the one belt one road, which is executed by china. That does for this edition of the program. Thank you so much for being with us, hope you enjoyed it, do you have any questions or comments or critiques . Uh, we entertained that actually a lot. Or do send them to us, Contact Information is behind me, from and the entire team here at economic divide, its goodbye until the next program. From the environment to business and economy, to civil and human rights, to treaties and agreements, to war and. 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