Iranian-Russian Relations and
Iran’s Policy Toward the Region
The Southern Caucasus is an oil- and gas-rich region with a strategic location that creates bril-
liant prospects for the local nations to become rich and prosperous. However, the Caucasus belongs to
“the areas of the greatest insecurity in today’s world, which lie along an arc from the Balkans through
the Middle East to Central Asia.”
10
Unfortunately, the Southern Caucasus is the arena of a grueling
struggle between the global and regional powers for geopolitical influence and for control over Cas-
pian energy resources, as well as over the energy transportation routes. And Iran is engaged in this
rivalry.
It is well known that, during the past three centuries, the main threat to Iran’s security and ter-
ritorial integrity has come from the North—from imperial Russia and later from the Soviet Union.
Fortunately, the local states of the Southern Caucasus—Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia—emerged
as independent countries after the disintegration of the U.S.S.R. And now these states form a “buffer
zone” between Iran and Russia.
11
Iran clearly understands that the existence of such a buffer zone is
vital for the nation’s security because of Russia’s strong imperialistic ambitions and Moscow’s nos-
talgia for the glorious days of the Red Empire. So Iran strongly supports the independence of all three
states. On the other hand, the existence of the South Caucasian countries creates new opportunities
and challenges for Iran’s foreign and security policy.
We think that Tehran’s strategy toward the Southern Caucasus originates from Iran’s specific
position in global affairs, especially from the nation’s confrontational relations with the West (U.S.).
Iran’s relations with the U.S., as the backbone of Tehran’s strategic foreign and security policy, are
the driving force behind Tehran’s behavior at the global and regional levels, including in the Southern
10
Ph. Stephens, “A Political Awakening That Recasts the Global Landscape,” The Financial Express, 21 July, 2007,
available at [http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com].
11
See: A. Ramezanzadeh, “Iran’s Role as Mediator in the Nagorno-Karabakh Crisis,” in: Contested Borders in the
Caucasus, ed. by B. Coppieters, Brussels, 1998, available at [http://poli.vub.ac.be/publi/ContBorders/eng/ch0701.htm].
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