Apart from being a bilateral cooperation, the relationship between Iran and Russia has had a significant impact on the Middle East and Eurasian regional arrangements, particularly in the past two decades. Following the Arab Spring and the Syrian Civil War, as well as the border conflicts between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and ultimately Russia's invasion of Ukraine, this relationship assumed wider proportions. The two states were brought closer together by the imposition of international sanctions and their military cooperation in Ukraine, but their differences stemmed from Russia's proximity to the Persian Gulf Arab countries regarding the Iranian islands and the Karabakh conflict. But the two states grew closer after Russia took a stand on the Israel-Gaza conflict on October 7. Throughout history, there have been many ups and downs in the relationship between Moscow and Tehran. The purpose of this study is to provide a solution to the following questions: how did Iran and Russia get along after the Russian conflict, and how has Iran's perspective affected Iran-Moscow ties in the wake of recent crises? Using a descriptive analysis method, this study investigates the idea that, despite the tight ties between these two nations—especially in the wake of the Syrian crisis—their relationship was not based on strategic cooperation. While Moscow is content with tactical cooperation and pursues its interests in the region, Tehran's strategic connection is not appealing to Moscow, despite Iran's desire for a closer partnership.

This brief paper seeks to explore the connections between the early Iranian geographical imagination and the contemporary Russian geographical conception of Eurasia. More specifically, this paper is driven by the question of whether, and to what extent the latter is informed by the former, and if so, how the latter’s conceptualization of geographical space borrows from the former. To carry out such an analysis, this paper employs an almost exclusively interpretive framework that begins with an examination of the geographical notions embedded in Ferdowsi’s tenth-century epic Shahnameh, followed by an examination of the Russian conception of Eurasia, and the loose but interconnected thought of Russian ‘Eurasianism’. Next, this paper examines whether similar or parallel concepts can be discerned between the two, as well as examining references to Ferdowsi’s geography in Russian Eurasianist thinking. ​Such an investigation contributes to the knowledge of how both regional powers make sense of themselves and their wider geographical context while contributing to existing scholarship by describing and explaining an underexplored connection between the geographical concepts of both Russia and Iran. As a result, preliminary findings may provide a window through which to understand the interconnected ideational roots that underpin these power’s geographical conceptions as well as how historical regional conceptions of geography remain pertinent to their contemporary conceptualizations and guide state behaviors on the Eurasian landmass.

This paper delves into the intricate web of Iran's strategic objectives in Latin America. The aim is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the motivations, mechanisms, and implications of Iran's engagement with the region, against the backdrop of historical ties and geopolitical shifts. The paper hopes to analyze Iran's multifaceted approach towards Latin America, exploring how it navigates through political and ideological realms to advance its interests. Drawing on case studies of key Latin American countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua, the paper explains the varying dimensions of Iran's engagement. Additionally, the paper examines the regional implications of Iran's presence in Latin America, assessing its impact on regional stability, security dynamics, and the balance of power. The paper as a whole offers insights into Iran's Latin American policy and hopes recommendations for regional players and policymakers can be made. By unraveling Iran's strategic objectives in Latin America, this analysis contributes to a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between regional dynamics and global geopolitics in the 21st century.

Sanctions against Iran have successfully limited the access of this country to money and technology. This research aims to find how much international sanctions against Iran have influenced environmental sustainability and to address this question, a mixed-methods approach, including both quantitative and qualitative methods, is employed. A wide range of documents, including sanctions-related official papers, laws, and regulations, media, and academic literature, also environmental reports from both Iranian sources and international bodies, as well as environmental indexes such as air pollution levels, water scarcity metrics, and deforestation rates, are evaluated and compared with periods before sanctions. Sanctions substantially restrict access of Iran to modern technologies and equipment related to renewable energy, pollution control, and water management, which are vital to the subject of environmental protection and significantly hinder Iran's environmental management capabilities. However, these technological sanctions are mixed with financial ones that limit funding for crucial national environmental projects, and this matter leads to escalating many environmental disasters like severe air pollution and water scarcity in Iran. It should be noted that the mentioned problems have disturbed many Iranian people's lives. Thereby, during the years after imposing these sanctions, the government's capacity to enforce and sustain effective environmental policies has been ruined. The consequences extend to the oil industry, where sanctions have directly and indirectly promoted environmentally detrimental extraction and refining practices for several reasons, including the reluctance of major international oil companies to invest in Iran and the Lack of access to modern technologies related to the section. Moreover, the Islamic Regime's foreign policy has mainly focused on proxy wars in the neighboring states, political tensions with regional powers and great states, and nuclear issues, especially after the starting of the Syrian civil war in 2011, and the state has ignored the importance of actively attending international environmental collaborations and meetings which can help Iran tackle both regional and national environmental challenges. Iran's environmental strategies suffer from the lack of local innovations in environmental technology, shifts towards alternative energy resources, and public initiatives aiming at conservation and environmental education, that most of them are direct results of financial issues and technological isolation regarding sanctions. It is also discussed that sanctions can be a double-edged sword that follows the immediate political and economic aims but also can have negative effects on environmental sustainability and human security.

Iran-China relations extend beyond customary bilateral ties, deeply influenced by a complex geopolitical landscape. This research aims to identify key Iranian policies and interactions with China across diplomatic, security, trade, and cultural domains. It necessitates close examination of pivotal policy interactions and relations, encompassing both bilateral and multilateral dimensions with global implications. The period of 2013-2023 in Iran-China relations is marked by two major geopolitical/security dynamics: the Iranian nuclear crisis and associated sanctions, and China's Eurasian strategy, notably the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). These factors not only impact bilateral relations but also shape global geopolitics amid the Russia-US-China power dynamics, with significant regional implications for Iran and its neighbors in the Middle East.