Behrouz Ghezel

Uncertainty over the Only Central Asian Parliamentary System: Changes to the Constitution in Kyrgyzstan

Due to the political developments in recent years, it is probably not far-fetched to hear news about changes to the constitution in the countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Constitutional amendments in the Republic of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan are recent examples of these developments ...

Behrouz Ghezel

New Sufism and the Unexpected Effect of Fundamentalism in Central Asia

In “Sufism” literature and in historical studies related to different periods of the communities’ tendency toward mysticism, Sufism and Sufi order (though specialists in this field distinguish between these terms), the important characteristic is the concurrent governing spirit of ...

Mohammad Alavizadeh

Temporary Change in Strategies of Uzbekistan in the Transition Period to Mirziyoyev

  After the death of Karimov, Uzbekistan’s foreign policy has produced a new literature these days in some expert circles which analyzes the change and reform of past trends of Tashkent, and hopes to see a convergent environment created in the Central Asia in the future. Clearly, this happens ...

Niknam Babri

A New Chapter of Cooperation between Russia and the US in the Syrian Crisis

Changes occur in the world of politics. No political issue does last forever. Political phenomena are affected by the conditions of time and space. So in a globalized world, we rarely see a particular country to pursue a continued policy. At times, some approaches do not even last for the given four-...

Saadat Hassan

Chabahar Reality, What's in It?

Islamic Republics of Iran, Afghanistan and democratic Republic of India eager to support and consolidate cooperation and develop economic relations among their nations also at regional and global levels; Understanding the need of Afghanistan as a land-locked country for accessing open seas through ...

Amin Parto

The Baltics’ Military Endeavors and Russia’s Danger

  During the two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the three small Baltic States - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - have not paid much attention to the development of their defense capabilities due to the lack of any major military threat. They practically had no Air Force, their ...

Shahrzad Maftooh

What Positive Features Brexit Have for Russia?

  The relationship between Britain and Russia dates back five centuries ago, and it  has experienced various ups and downs – going from coalition to competition, and vice versa. In fact, history is filled with rivalries of both sides over achieving more scope of influence, cumulating ...

Alireza Nouri

Neo-Eurasianism, Russia and Future Equations in International System

Although following the collapse of the former Soviet Union, Russia reluctantly or maybe out of pragmatism accepted mono-multipolar structure of the world after the Cold War and gave in to West’s relative superiority in that system, it never recognized it as a sustainable international system ...

Hamidreza Azizi

The Russian-Iranian Alliance That Was Not

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Oct. 28 in Moscow hosted his Iranian and Syrian counterparts, Mohammad Javad Zarif and Walid Moallem, respectively, to discuss the latest developments regarding Syria and to coordinate action to resolve the crisis there. The meeting, the latest sign of Russian-...

Mehdi Sanaei

Security from The Middle East to Eurasia

Providing security, which is of the primary and fundamental rights, is the basic issue for humans, humanitarian organizations and the governments. In the twentieth century as a result of the consolidation and the establishment of the Westphalian sovereignty in Europe, national security surpassed the ...

Shuaib Bahman

Muharram Mourning Ceremonies in Central Asia

Commemoration of Imam Husayn's uprising has unique features in each of the countries of Central Asia. These features depend on the country's ethnic and religious characteristics as well as population size and distribution. For example, the people of Tajikistan have a strong cultural connection ...

Saadat Hassan

Pakistan as a "Geographical Corridor" between China and Iran

The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiatives were raised by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visits to Central Asia and Southeast Asia in September and October 2013. The Chinese led ‘Silk Road Economic Belt’, the ‘Maritime Silk Route’...

Russia’s Endgame in the US Presidential Elections

During the 2016 Democratic Convention held in Philadelphia (25-28 July) Hilary Clinton accepted the nomination of the Democratic Party as its candidate for President of the United States. In the background this event competed for attention with the leaking by Wikileaks of thousands of emails belonging ...

Alireza Nouri

Regional and International Objectives of Russian Airstrikes from Iran

Almost half a century after Russian soldiers left Iran’s soil in the aftermath of the World War II in 1946, the country’s military has once more returned to Iran following a new agreement with the Islamic Republic. The current situation, however, is not comparable to the past and the goals ...

Hamidreza Azizi

Why Iran’s Diplomatic Success to Its North Is Not Replicated to Its South

Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, hosted the presidents of Iran and Russia on Aug. 8 for the first trilateral summit of the three countries. The three leaders reached agreements on a range of issues, from efforts to pave the way for the development of the North-South Transit Corridor, to coordinating ...

Hamidreza Azizi

Central Asia at the Heart of One Belt, One Road Initiative

Among all the proposed routes of The Silk Road Economic Belt project, the main emphasis is on Central Asia and this region has a pivotal role in the project. Fundamentally, China's plan was presented by Chinese president during his visit to Kazakhstan in 2013. If we regard the Central Asia region ...

Bahram Amirahmadian

Eurasia’s Recent Developments Place Regional Stability in Jeopardy?

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Eurasia has been constantly in turmoil. All this turmoil has its roots in the time of the Soviet Union; a government after the collapse of which all untoward consequences of its rule came to the surface and set the region ablaze. In the Caucasus region,...

Jahangir Karami

Tehran and Moscow in Post-JCPOA Era

The implementation of Iran's nuclear deal with the P5+1 group of countries, which is known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and removal of sanctions imposed on Iran is an issue, which will affect Iran's relations with many states. As a result, economic relations between Iran ...

Hamidreza Azizi

Does Iran Need to Join Shanghai Cooperation Organization?

Uzbekistan hosted the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on June 23-24. As expected, Iran’s accession was one of the main topics on the agenda. However, according to Russia's special presidential envoy, Bakhtier Khakimov, SCO members failed to reach an agreement ...

Vali Kaleji

Iran’s Regional Standing in US New Silk Road Strategy at Central and Southern Asia

As one of the historical symbols of Central Asia and its surrounding areas, “Silk Road” attracted the attention of the US policymakers for the first time in the second term of Bill Clinton’s administration as the “Silk Road Strategy Act of 1999” which was then pursuit ...