Take uh a quick break, im not too sure how quick a break it would be, wed like to continue with uh the developments, but we like to also get the barrage of information verified and bring it to you, so we do ask you to stay with press tv, for now is goodbye. Of irans Railway Network has become a focal point of the iranian government, headed by abraham raycy. One of the accomplishments has been the announcement of the completion of the shalam che Basra Railway connecting iran and iraq. Well, on the surface it might sound just like another railway connection, but it is lot more than that. Hi, im kavat tachway. Welcome to economic divide. Some of the highlights of this program. The shalam shassa rail Road Construction has been announced. It was announced decades ago. But now its going to be completed, it will connect iran and iraq, and it will have passenger and cargo as transport. Next up, lets take a look or some of the other highlights in this category is plusses for iran, what that means is, well, more trade activity, and also its going to make iran a center of transport or be one of the connections making iran a center of transport, National Network and regional integration, the other places. For iran, but there are outside interferences when it comes to this, namely us, preventing iraq from the construction of this project, and it also does wants 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 with Iranian Border town of shalamche. Crossborder Railway Project serves as introduction to strategic transportation projects that would connect iraq and neighboring countries. Iranian officials said the 32 km railroad will be completed in 18 to 24 months. Tempran and bagdad first inked an agreement to develop the route in 2014, but the project was halted after the Daesh Terrorist Group began to conduct. Its violent offensive through large parts of iraq. As part of the of project, iran aims to build an overpass on the waterway that divides the two countries, known as 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 road 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 shalamche in iran and the city of baza 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 shalamcha rail so important to iran and iraq . Terran and bagdad to begin the من construction of the railling after decades of planning, but challenges do remain. Now i went on to say it will facilitate the movement of. And then there has been speculation over the years that bagdad has been dragging its feet on the project with iranian media speculating that the us maybe 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 connecting the persian gulf to the Mediterranean Sea, the iran, iraq, syria railway, link, as its called. An ambitious project would run from basra in southern iraq to abu kamal on the iraqi iranian 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 that the Rc Administration is using the rail project as part of a strategy to secure its regional position, creating diverse transit rous with neighboring countries that employ. Road and rail connections adding tehran is pursuing the basra shalamsha railway, conjunction with connections to iranian 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 websites that we peruse 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. Joining us, he is a political economy analyst. 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 connect shalamche with the southern iraq, but its been touted 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 of the trade with the surrounding countries, so this is the importance of neighboring countries each other, and in case of. Iraq of course uh, 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 export. Thank you for that, let me bring in now ali alashmi, historian and iraq affairs, expert. Ali anashmi, welcome to economic divide, do you agree with what our guest said that this is going to be about products . I think this is a project its very important for both country, because both country suffering from the same enemy, iran suffering the. From United States and iraq suffering from under the table from many countries blockade and and you know the coast 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 for. Or channel for the trade from asia, asia growth and become the the largest in a 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, and another uh country, this is in the past eight years alone, the United NationsGeneral Assembly has approved 140 resolutions criticizing the zionist entity, and the worlds last aportide regime was censured once again at the General Assembly last month, what changes that . As they point someones independent and who goes and finds out whats happening in uh israel and design entity and uh discovers surprise surprise theres ethnic cleansing and theres appalling Human Rights Violations and of course they report that and designers throw up their hands in horror, clutch their pearls and they say, oh, these people are antisemites, these these ngos were were playing for an audience of one, washington essentially, and washington would then relay the talking points of the un watch, so we were under constant pressure. The program iran and iraq have announced that work a railroad linking 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 both 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 Bordertown of shalam cheh 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 shalamshire bastra railroad, in terms of the goals, um, 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 the aims to fulfill religious pilgrimage, thats pretty important, its also going to facilitate cargo transit and the use of iranian southern 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, kerman shah, hossavi corridor, thats important, and then in terms of the rail distance, 34. 5 km, rail stops, theres three, and the approximate cost on this is 200 million. Okay, some of the specs. On to 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 the shatal ararab. And the arvand river in iran, shutter up in iraq, officials said 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 that 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, uh, what is the railways geopolitical significance is our focus here, youre going to find that out in a minute, i mean, its not. Just about improving trade relations between iran and iraq. As you can see over there, the ports imam komenni, where koramshair 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 is going to cement his 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 the offshots there in terms of albucamal and then damascus through holmes also one of the connections and then latakiia uh this as the us sees is a threat because this pretty much spells uh the axis of resistance when it comes to the countries that iran is going to connect to. All right lets find out what our guest thinks about this let me bring a bring back ahmad hes a political econom economy and who rejoins us. Welcome back economic divide. Um, when you take a look at the uh project. It is reported that the u. S. Is trying to actually prevent iraq from uh cooperating with iran on this project. Uh, 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 to 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 whole corridor, so and if you also take into account that the main priority of the United States is to control or constrain the huge economy of china, it means that this corridor play a significant role or possess a significant value for United States. In in 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 the United 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 gester 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, uh, lets bring back our next guest uh. Historian and iraq affairs expert. Ali anashmi, welcome back. A 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 state, united state needs iraq weak and iran weak, because the main enemy for. State 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 weapon, they try to or or they insist to fight them by economy, by destroyed their country, then any link between iraq and iran that mean the to widening the economy on iran and will be iran many resist for the. American uh policy, then i think 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 shasta railroad is to also connect iran to najaf and carbala in iraq, easing the burden of transporting millions of pilgrims to go through iran to them. Some 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. The high volume of goods exported from iran to iraq has caused the issue of transportation infrastructure between the two countries to be of great importance, and according to experts, with the construction of the shalam shasu railway, 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 regional integration. Railways have proven central to the International North south transport corridor, a project that envisions connecting india to central asia and russia by که موضوعیت یکی از موارد اصلی اقتصادی کشورها هست و همنقل ترانزیت برای ایرانم که در نقطه خیلی خاصی در جهان قرار گرفته ده اهمیته و منافع اقتصادی و منافع جانبه دیگه ای برای کشورمون حتماً خواهد داشت. Hello and welcome to the quick take section, im mattiapolisan. 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 Route 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. 28 projects underway in iran totaling around 500 km to be completed by the end of 2026. There are additional 16 routes totaling 520 km. Meters that are in progress, which includes repairs and construction schemes. Another key project, the completion of 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 u. S. 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. Least europe carrier, an ambitious multipronged 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 you 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 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 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 hub. 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 matte abbasian and ill see you next week. The shalomcha railway is just one of many rail connections that he wants 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 imans 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 it 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 entertain that actually lot more, do send them to us, Contact Information is behind me. And the entire team here at economic divide, its goodbye until the next program. يا غزتنا يا منصوره يا غزتنا يا منصوره يا رمسي الخليل من اللد الخليهم قسمنا عليه the mali uh experience is an experience that is opening mark opening up new era in west africa. During the attack we noticed our soldiers were no match, they were weaker, the iso fighters were stronger than us, whoever dared to face them were killed on the spot, how many times has france killed us and looted from us, our gold, our uranium, everything that belongs to. Niger, france has got its hands on it, we do not accept this anymore, frances has brought us nothing good. Pricev headlines Palestinian Resistance fighters launch fresh missile strikes on israeli cities, including tel aviv and ashalan, response to the regimes. Destructive quake and irreperable defeat for israel in terms of the regimes intelligence and military and the Israeli Military launches attack on the office of irans alalam Arabic News Network in the gaza strip