In her Nov. 11 briefing, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova directly brought up the recently announced Iron Gate Task Force of the Trump administration, which CENTCOM claims will block “illegal revenue streams across Iran’s land borders and the Caspian Sea.” As a country bordering the Caspian, as well as a major ally and trade partner of Iran, Russia is likely questioning how serious the new proposal is and how far the Americans will go to enforce it. Currently, and until such time as the Astara-Rasht rail link from Azerbaijan to Iran along the western shore of the Caspian is completed, sea traffic across the Caspian from Astrakhan (Russia) to the port of Bandar Anzali in Iran is a vital link in the International North-South Transportation Corridor (INSTC) under development from Russia to India.

Zakharova addressed the issue: “Washington is creating a military structure aimed at controlling the Islamic Republic of Iran’s overland trade. Thus, the Americans openly confirm that they essentially equate to direct military action, the strategy of strangling undesirable countries, ‘regimes,’ and peoples by means of sanctions.”