Iran's cultural diplomacy in Central Asia and South Caucasus: Challenges and opportunities

After the collapse of the USSR and independence of South Caucasus and Central Asian republics, as Iran’s north neighbours, the necessary requirement for relations with these states was provided. These states have much similarities and proximities with Iran from civilizational, historical and cultural perspectives. Needless to say, Iran has always had a cultural view toward her northern neighbours, and because of this has tried to increase its influence upon the regional states using cultural diplomacy as a means in her foreign policy system. In this paper we have tried to explain the challenges and opportunities of Iran with South Caucasus and Central Asian states on the basis of cultural diplomacy conception. The main question in this paper is that what are the Iran’s challenges and cultural diplomacy opportunities in the region? And the hypothesis in response to this question is that Iran’s cultural diplomacy has been confronted with challenges in the field of foreign intervention and ideology, and at the same time in fields of religion, civilization and linguistics seems to have some fruitful opportunities.