Iran adopted the identity of the Islamic Republic after the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The country has changed its paths from the Western-oriented one to a self-interested and pragmatist structure. That period presents an important case study for prominent scholars to understand the Iranian balancing behavior between the US and the Soviet Union. Thus, Iran sought to apply its revolutionary method to other countries, beginning from its neighborhood.
In this regard, Islamic values stand as the main principle in the Iranian Foreign Policy formulation. Iran doesn’t have an overt interest to interfere with the internal affairs of any country for having ideal type of diplomatic relations, but in reality, domestic dynamics have been used as an opportunity to export revolution with the principles of Islamism. wasn’t used, and this Muslim country’s approaches to Azerbaijan have become the main source of questions. The conflict between Muslim Azerbaijan and Christian Armenia has been viewed differently by Iran which supported Christian Armenia rather than Muslim Azerbaijan with its various types of politics. Therefore, Iran is using different types of foreign policy approaches that contain a pragmatist view in the case of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Iran and Azerbaijan share a 765km length border and both of them are littoral states of the Caspian Sea. Iran has similarities and differences with Azerbaijan in the case of historical, cultural, and contemporary values and common grounds. Both of the countries are home to a large Muslim Shia population while Azerbaijan has a secular state mechanism unlikely Iran’s theocracy. This causes a notable difference than similarity in the case of political systems. Thereof Iran tends to support religious groups in Azerbaijan while the Baku administration suppresses the emergence of religious extremism and takes this factor as one of the most important national security concerns.
During the period of Abulfaz Elchibey, the second president of Azerbaijan, Pan-Turkic political rhetoric has played a decisive role to shape the Iranian concerns about this country. In that period, Iran has chosen a strong partnership with Armenia to prevent possible threats from Azerbaijan because nationalist approaches could have created a diffusion effect with the huge Azerbaijani population in Iran. Consequently, this population became a concerning point for the national security and causal effect of the pragmatist policies of Iran.Conversely, during Heydar Aliyev’s period, his balance policy caused a decrease in tension for building confidence although some other factors negatively altered the ties.
These two countries have to cooperate because of their geostrategic positions in the means of economy and transportation. They have remarkable oil and natural gas resources and need to transfer this energy to other countries via their territories. Azerbaijan prefers to develop the non-oil sector which created the necessity to obtain new alternative agenda for strengthening its economy. At this point, Iran emerged as an important partner. Similarly, The North-South Transport Corridor project provides some benefits for both countries to be a pioneer in the case of international transport and transfer activities. This project is important in terms of working in partnership towards to same aim and they can improve their economies and be a partner with big geo-economic players and therefore this project will decrease the tension in the region.
The main aim is to create a transport connection by rail, ship, and roadways from India to Europe via Caucasus territories. Russia, Iran, and India signed the agreement in 2002. The annual aim is to carry 1.5 million passengers and 5 million tons of cargo. On the other side, the sanctions which are implemented against Iran by the West negatively affected the ideal economic relations among the countries. Thus, the trade turnover has become changeable and reached its peak only in 2007 with the total amount of $672 million.These two countries have many negativities in their relations. First of all, Iran’s national security concern also affects the policy-making process towards Azerbaijan.
So, Armenia appears as an alternative partner. From the perspective of Iran, Azerbaijan is a historical and cultural neighbor but at the same time, this country is a potential source of destabilization and concern of security issues, because today Iran is home to a large ethnic Azerbaijani population in the East Azerbaijan province, up to twenty million people who live near to the border of Azerbaijan. These people have taken important positions in the state affairs and economic sphere for many decades. One more negative factor on the issue occurred in the early 1990s when nationalist discourse among Azerbaijanis was spreading in the case of Azerbaijani unification.
As an official speech, Iranian leader Rafsanjani emphasized the potential danger of Azerbaijani nationalism as an equal threat to the former communist presence in the region. He clearly stated that Iran wouldn’t allow any kind of nationalist movement even they have an Islamic motivation.As another negative effect, Azerbaijan has rejected the Iranian participation in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Oil Project with the pressure of the US in the 1990s. At that time, Azerbaijan had nothing to do in this case because of the pressure from the US, and the country tried to restore ties and gain confidence with Iran in the coming years. This caused the exclusion of Iran from the Western-oriented energy projects in the region. Therewithal, Iran has adopted a regional policy that has a theme with anti-Western rhetoric that includes anti-US and anti-Israel as well as competition against Turkey.
Azerbaijan’s strong security and military relations with Israel have become another concerning point for Iran. In this context, Iran has been frequently accusing the cooperation between Azerbaijan and Israel. The Caspian Sea remains another disputed point in bilateral relations. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, littoral states of the Caspian Sea had debated the division of the sea to manage natural resources and deployment of security forces. Iran and Azerbaijan maintain different methods on the division of the sea to use hydrocarbon sources in favor of their interests. Azerbaijan accepts a national coastline solution for each state and supports the median line principle of the sea which all littoral states may have the benefits of all resources as well as navigation activities without discussing terms of sea and lake by determining its property rights.
But Iran has offered the condominium principle and preferred to have a marginal position in the Caspian Sea discussions. Later, the country changed the proposal with a new offer. As accepting this, Caspian should be divided into equal pieces by ownership of 20% shares respectively for each country to use seabed and surface commonly. Another negative point is about Iranian intention to influence the Talysh population in Azerbaijan. The total number of the Talysh people is given by official sources around 100,000. They live near the southern part of Azerbaijan and reportedly, they are under the influence of Iran. Baku administration estimates that Armenia and Iran have a dominant role to encourage On the other side, Armenia remains the only regional country in which Iran doesn’t have any problem with both political and cultural issues. These two countries have a different ground of state structure, but the similar way of a beneficial relationship. The Islamic Republic of Iran involves better ties with Armenia which holds the position of the first nation that adopted Christianity in the world.
Iran hosts a big Armenian community that is around 150.000 people but it has a decreasing tendency every year. This provides a convenient facility to Iran for making effective promotion in front of the world to show the quality of human rights and democracy in the country. It is one of the main motivations which affect the bilateral relations between Iran and Armenia.The border with Iran allows Armenia to reach the outer world because the country is landlocked and blockaded by Turkey and Azerbaijan due to the Armenian occupation in Nagorno-Karabakh until 2020. The routes via Iran and Georgia are accepted as breathing tubes of Armenia when it comes to considering the economy and energy needs of the country. Iran is figured as an important chance to find alternative ways to meet the country’s necessities.
Therefore, Iran becomes one of the leading trade partners because it provides opportunities for involvement in small-scale projects in the region. The establishment of the Aras Free Trade The zone which is located in Northwestern Iran and close to the borders of Armenia and Azerbaijan’s The Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic consolidated the economic relationship among countries after 2003. On the other side, the establishment of the Meghri Free Economic Zone is another important economic facility between the countries. Iran has taken the advantage of having an economic partnership with the Eurasian Economic Union with the help of Armenia.The US sanctions against Iran and differences in economic systems created several obstacles for commercial activities.
Having a more liberal economic mechanism made Armenia hesitant to involve in trade affairs with Iran because this country faced heavy sanctions from the West and its state-controlled economy couldn’t have established a safe economic environment in the region.This directly threatened the welfare of Armenia, and the country needed to be more sensitive to find alternatives. Russia stands here as an opposite actor and the only country to provide energy to Armenia because Moscow keeps this country to guarantee Russian security needs.This situation affects the Armenian decision-making process to improve relations with Iran and other countries. So, it is possible to say that energy relations with Iran remain limited although some projects are finalized.As an example, the opening of the Iran-Armenia natural gas pipeline in 2006, was designed for the Armenian energy needs. The constructed pipeline from Iran to Armenia uses distribution links to provide gas. The pipeline project officially started in 2007 after the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s meeting with his counterpart Robert Kocharian.
Even the media outlets named this initiative Iranian big contribution to Armenian welfare. But sooner, Russian Gazprom which has a big share in Armenia pressured this country to reduce the limit of gas. Here, the only concern appears about the Iranian dominant role in the region against Russian military presence.In 2009, explosions damaged the pipeline and Iran became more careful about the energy politics in the region. On the other side, the construction of a hydroelectric plant and a high voltage transmission line on the border area aims to meet electricity necessities. In the case of transportation, both of the countries realize the importance of the creation of significant projects such as the 470-km long railway and the 556-km long North-South highway which are in the development process. The trade volume has reached $300 million a year although the current potential is around $1 billion. Even though Armenia is a smaller country compared to Iran, three main targets can be indicated to understand the Iranian intention to improve relations with this country. Firstly, Iran wants to find alternative ways to reach other regions for energy and transportation issues to guarantee its interests. Secondly, balancing Azerbaijan is important for national security, and finally, the country aims to become a dominant regional power at the expense of struggle against the Western powers and stabilize the Russian influence.
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