BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES


IRAN'S RELATIONS WITH SOUTH ASIA, CENTRAL ASIA, CHINA AND RUSSIA

Author: Ahmad Tariq Karim

DOI Link: https://www.doi.org/10.56888/BIISSj2000v21n4a2

ABSTRACT

Iran's relations with major countries of South and Central Asia, as well as with Russia and China warrant closer examination because there are crisscrossing ties among these regions and countries. All have been, and still are in varying degrees, under considerable pressure from the USA and the West on a number of issues, which they consider of vital interest and of importance to themselves -- human rights, development of nuclear power and technology (nuclear proliferation in Western eyes), space and missile technology, and arms sales. These pressures are very likely to make them gravitate to each other more and more, in a show of solidarity. Even if Iran's relations with the United States do become normalized in future, this will not mean jettisoning of the close partnerships which Iran has painstakingly forged, or is in the process of forging, with India, China and Russia. Rather, each of the strands between these important countries is likely to continue being strengthened, in bilateral configurations, along parallel tracks, strengthening multi-polarity in the global context, which they all favor.