Iran’s Foreign Policy Toward Russia, Central Asia, and the Caucasus

Abstract

Twice in the last two decades, events of historical proportion have dramatically affected the shape and direction of Iranian foreign policy. The February 1979 revolution was the most significant development affecting the prism through which foreign policy values, motivations, ideals, priorities, and commitments were defined. The perception of Iran as a revolutionary state carried with it a historically unprecedented burden on Iran’s foreign policy. The revolution internalized by the international system had as much to do with the shape and scope of Iran’s foreign policy as the revolution externalized by the new custodians of Iran’s foreign policy. The construction of Iranian foreign policy identity took place not only in the hands of the revolutionaries or the new elite, but, and more so, in the hands of international actors responding to the revolution, regionally and globally.