Iran and Russia to Take Charge of Caspian Sea Route

Russia and Iran treat the Caspian Sea as a strategic inland corridor to bypass Western sanctions and project power. Their shared policy prioritizes two main pillars: exclusive regional military control (banning non-littoral forces) and the expansion of internal trade, transportation, and weapons supply networks.

Amid blockades in the Strait of Hormuz, Russia and Iran rely heavily on the Caspian for secure military logistics. Russian cargo ships use this route to transport vital military hardware and drone components to Iran, far from the reach of US naval interdiction.

Russia and Iran historically favored joint administration of the sea under older treaties. While the 2018 Aktau Convention established a framework to divide the seabed (for resource extraction) and the surface waters (for navigation), both Moscow and Tehran remain aligned in preventing other regional or international actors from gaining geopolitical influence.