Iran approves the outline of an East to West corridor document built around the Herat to Mazar-e Sharif railway

At a meeting of Iran's National Transit Headquarters chaired by First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref on Saturday 1 August 2026, the outline of an East to West corridor document built around the Herat to Mazar-e Sharif railway project was approved. The stated aims of the document are to raise Iran's share of the international transit market, improve the country's geo economic position, strengthen economic links with Afghanistan and other countries along the route, and create new financing mechanisms for strategic projects.

The same meeting approved resolutions on easing customs procedures and through transport of goods, an instruction on clearing returned empty containers and temporary imports, measures to substitute southern ports for supplying basic goods and transit through shared borders with neighbours, and an architecture plan for a smart platform monitoring the public transport fleet.

Aref said the government has made the development of transit corridors one of its main priorities over the past two years, and described raising corridor capacity and developing dry and northern ports alongside the Persian Gulf ports as a basic strategy for improving Iran's standing in regional transport.