[4][5][6] The project was launched to bolster transportation and communication links between Europe and Asia through rail and shipping networks and is seen as a counter to China's Belt and Road Initiative.

[8][9] The route is currently being used to bypass the Houthi blockade[10] and is widely seen as a way to future proof the India-Europe-US supply chain avoiding the Suez canal.

[12] In September 2023, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticised the project for bypassing Turkey, and has vowed for an alternative route, the "Iraq Development Road Project", which is envisaged to connect the Persian Gulf with Europe through a railway and highway via ports in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Iraq, including the under-construction Grand Faw Port.

[14] Saudi Arabia and the UAE, for instance, view IMEC not as a challenge to China but as an opportunity to diversify their economies and strengthen their positions as inter-regional connectivity hubs.

[15][16] In September 2024, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the corridor a "blessing" for the middle east, and referred to Iran along with its allies as a "curse" in his address to the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly.