I.R. of Iran's Mediatory Performance in Karabakh Geopolitical Crisis

Nation-states have encountered several political and geopolitical crises since the outset of their formation and development. In geopolitical crisis that the grounds for the conflict over the control and capture of one or more geographical values are significant, the crisis endures and sustains to some extent and cannot be easily resolved; since the issue of conflict belongs in the national interests upon which no compromise is feasible for the parties involved. The Republic of Azerbaijan, as an important actor in the geopolitical region of Southern Caucasia, faced a geopolitical crisis of the occupied territories due to Armenian territorial expansionism. It was a crisis that gained some international aspects following the intervention of some powers. Iran, as the most important neighboring country to Azerbaijan, has very often attempted to maintain her own position among regional and transregional actors through intervening in this crisis. Accordingly, this current study descriptively-analytically attempts to examine the question how Iran’s performance is assessed to resolve Karabakh’s crisis. The research findings demonstrate that Karabakh’s crisis has become complicated due to its being multi-faceted, its longevity and resistence, the plurality of the actors and the persuit of some particular geopolitical objectives by the mediators. Iran also follows up her own various objectives on the basis of the complex matrix of crisis and her geopolitical implications: prevention of triple coalition of Azerbaijan-Armenia-Turkey; averting the crisis spreading to her borders; playing an inhibitory role against the presence of transregional actors like Israel and U.S. accosting her borders.