Between Allies and Adversaries: Assessing Iran’s Stand on Armenia and Azerbaijan

Online Event

Monday, April 22, 2024 from 11:00am – 12:15pm EDT

In the South Caucasus, Iran grapples with its relationships with Armenia and Azerbaijan amid regional power dynamics. Concerns about the pan-Turkic movement prompt Iran to consider alliances, potentially including with Christian Armenia, particularly as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also seeks leadership in the Muslim world. Allegations of Azerbaijani cooperation with Israeli intelligence further strain Tehran-Baku relations, compounded by the significant Azerbaijani population in Iran. This complex interaction presents openings both for cooperation and for conflict.

This seminar will address several key questions, including:

• Will Iran intervene on behalf of Armenia amidst growing Azerbaijani political assertiveness?
• How strong is Azerbaijan’s sense of national identity in its southern regions?
• How does Iran view Armenia’s Western pivot and its relations with Russia?
• Should Azerbaijan align more closely with the West, the EU, and NATO, or should it maintain a balanced policy among Western powers, Russia, Iran, and Turkey?
• Can Iran meet Armenia’s energy demands if the latter distances itself from Russia?

SPEAKERS

Shireen Hunter is an affiliate fellow at the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, with which she was associated from 2005 to 2019 as a Visiting Fellow, and as a Visiting and Research Professor. Prior to joining the Center, she was the director of the Islam Program at CSIS, with which she had been associated since 1983. From 1965 to 1979, she was a member of the Iranian Foreign Service serving in London and Geneva. She has published extensively on Iran’s domestic and foreign policies as well as on the politics of the Caucasus and Central Asia, including their relations with key regional and international players.

Alexander Iskandaryan is a prominent expert on politics, nationalism, and the contemporary history of Armenia, the South Caucasus, and Eurasia. He is a political scientist and the Director of the Caucasus Institute in Yerevan, Armenia. He has authored many works on these topics, presented papers, and spoken at numerous conferences.

Ahmad Alili is a researcher on the international public policy and regional security of the South Caucasus, and neighboring regional powers. He is part of several peacebuilding initiatives. Currently, he is the director of the Caucasus Policy Analysis Centre (CPAC), a Baku-based independent think tank promoting regional integration in the South Caucasus. He is also a lecturer at the Academy of Public Administration.

MODERATOR

Mikail Mamedov holds a PhD in History from Georgetown University, where he is also a Lecturer in History and the Liberal Studies Program of the School of Continuing Studies. His multiethnic Azeri-Armenian family arrived in the US back in 1996, in the wake of the outbreak of the Karabakh conflict. He holds an MA from The George Washington University and a Diploma in History from Moscow Lomonosov State University. He has authored numerous articles on the history of the Caucasus, and on contemporary literature and the Karabakh conflict.