Iran's New Geopolitics in Central Asia and Caucasia
/ Seyed Javad Kafkazli
In this paper, the author is looking at the new geopolitics of Iran in Central Asia and Caucasia. It is vehemently argued that this vast region is Iran's ''natural depth'' which should not be neglected if Iran has taken her role as a global power in the post-Cold War era seriously. Further the makeup of Iranian foreign policy is dealt with and also critically appraised as it is believed that the architects of Iranian foreign policy seem to gloss over the pluralistic nature of Iranian identity in terms of geopolitical calculations. The importance of the latter remark has been backed up by the fieldworks carried out by the author in Caucasia (southern and northern) and various parts of Central Asia.