‍Central Asia and The Caucasus Journal

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.

Abstract More than two decades has passed since presenting the first design proposal for economic cooperation among the countries of Central Eurasia in 1994and forming the Eurasian Economic Union in 2015. During this period and in order to create economic integration in Central Eurasia, different acts, including the formation of the Eurasian economic community aimed at expanding and coordinating economic activities as well as the creation of the customs union and common economic environmentamong regional countries have been carried out to facilitate economic relations. Now, the main question is to what extent the post-Soviet economic integration in Central Eurasia has been successful over the years? To answer this question, based on international politics and four variables in Cantouri and Spiegel models, and in particular, in the case of economic and international political economy, the issue has been investigated. Furthermore, based on these two views, the rate of success in economic integrations has been studied. The study shows that the success rate of economic integration in Central Eurasia has not been remarkable and will be remained weak if the past patterns are followed up. However, the region has got the neglected capacities that can change this path.