Iranian delegation in Damascus for Iran-Iraq-Syria railway talks

An Iranian delegation visited the Syrian capital of Damascus on Wednesday to discuss plans to build a railway line running through Iran, Iraq and Syria, according to state media reports.

Syrian regime transport minister Zuhair Khuzaym discussed ground, sea and air transport projects with Iranian minister for roads and construction Mehrdad Bazerbash, Syria regime outlet SANA reported.

Among the projects discussed was "the tripartite railway link for transporting passengers and goods between Syria, Iraq and Iran", SANA said.

The two ministers also discussed increasing flights between Syria and Iran, according to the report. Bazerbash told Iranian state-linked media that there could soon be three or four daily flights a week between Iran and Syria if funding is secured and approved.

The idea of a rail network running through Iran, Iraq and Syria has been publicly floated for years.

Discussions between railway officials in the three countries began in 2019. It was proposed that the railway run from the Khomeini Port in Khuzestan province, southwestern Iran, to the northern Syrian Mediterranean port city of Latakia, The New Arab's Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

Work on a railway linking the Iraqi port city of Basra and Iran's Shalamcheh - a short stretch of line that would connect Iran to railways in the rest of Iraq and in Jordan and Syria - has also been discussed for years. Jordan has lines dating back to Ottoman times but has plans to create a more modern rail system.

Construction of the Basra-Shalamcheh line, a 32-kilometre stretch of railway, was to begin when Ramadan ended last week, Iran's deputy foreign minister for economic diplomacy said earlier this month.

He said $230 million had been allocated for the project.

Iran has previously promised to help the Syrian regime rebuild parts of the country destroyed since the war broke out in 2011, mostly from regime bombing.

The Syrian regime, propped up by Iran and Russia, has been responsible for much of the damage to the country's infrastructure.