Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 استاد گروه روابط بین‌الملل دانشگاه گیلان، رشت، ایران

2 دانشجوی دکتری روابط بین‌الملل، دانشکده حقوق و علوم سیاسی دانشگاه تهران، تهران، ایران

Abstract

The economic relations of Iran and the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union have been in recent years influenced by factors such as the international sanctions, lack of a complementary economic relation, Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union’s members’ dependence on sales of raw materials and energy and geo-economic competition. The US re-imposition of sanctions following Trump administration’s withdrawal from the JCPOA and imposition of economic restrictions, especially in the international trade area, made Iran’s look pivot toward broadening economic ties with its neighbors. Within this framework, the Eurasian Economic Union, due to its low volume of economic relations with the US and the Russian foundations’ dominance over the union, has an appropriate capacity for expanding economic diplomacy, especially under sanctions. The Islamic Republic of Iran, with concluding preferential trade contracts, is trying to compensate for the restrictions created by the US sanctions. The main question of this paper is that, what opportunities does the economic diplomacy of Iran put ahead of the Iranian economy under the sanctions conditions? In this regard, this presumption is put to test that Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union’s economic diplomacy provides grounds for strategic cooperation between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union in the long term by opening a new trade space through reducing tariffs, using the existing capacities of the union and by circumventing  the economic sanctions. The method used in this paper is based on causal explanation as well as collecting information by use of first-hand sources and analysis of the country’s officials’ interviews.

Keywords