Foreign Policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran toward Central Asia and the Caucasus

The fall of the USSR led to the creation of Central Asian and Caucasian states which occupy a special position in terms of their political, economic and cultural importance in the region of Eurasia. After the birth of these states, the international community was faced with a new phenomenon within the context of world politics. Naturally, regional states adjacent to Central Asia and Caucasus as well as the great powers were concerned about their foreign policies toward this set of newly established states. Islamic Republic of Iran also had to deal with a subsystem of dissimilar states instead of just one state (i.e., the Soviet Union). This unexpected increase in the number of Iran's northern neighbors has undeniably had an impact on Iran's grand strategy and its regional foreign policy. In view of the geostrategic position of Central Asian and Caucasian states, the region's rich resources, the expansionist policies of the great powers aimed at gaining concessions from these states as well as historical-cultural ties and geographical proximity of Iran to these states, Middle East Quarterly devotes its roundtable in this issue to Iran's foreign policy toward these states in the last decade.