The World's Other Hormuz Runs Through the Caucasus | Opinion
Summary
The article argues that Iran could threaten the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline and nearby energy routes through the Caucasus, which carry supplies from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan to international markets. It cites reported Iranian threats and security incidents, and urges the United States to help protect the corridor; the article is an opinion piece and the supplied text ends before its full policy proposals are presented.Key Facts
- The BTC pipeline runs from Baku through Georgia to Turkey’s Mediterranean coast and can carry about one-twentieth of the oil volume that moved through the Strait of Hormuz before the war, according to the article.
- The article says Israel gets 46.4 percent of its oil imports from Azerbaijan through the pipeline.
- It says Italy buys more than half of Azerbaijan’s crude exports and that a gas pipeline alongside the BTC route supplies southern Europe.
- Kazakhstan aims to ship 7 million tons of crude a year through the corridor, partly as an alternative to a Russian export terminal targeted by Ukrainian drones, the article says.
- The article reports that an adviser to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander threatened “enemy oil lines” in early March and that Iranian drones struck Nakhchivan airport’s passenger terminal on March 5.
- Azerbaijan’s security service said it had disrupted an IRGC-linked plot against the pipeline and Israeli and Jewish targets in Baku, according to the article.
- The author proposes U.S. support for Azerbaijani air defenses, counter-drone systems, radar, and patrol vessels to protect the corridor.
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