Power game in the South Caucasus and Iran-Armenia Relations

Moghani, Amir Mohammad; Maleki, Abbas

doi:10.22034/ca.2026.2081095.1961

Power game in the South Caucasus and Iran-Armenia Relations

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Amir Mohammad Moghani ¹

Abbas Maleki ²

¹ Ph.D student of energy governance, Faculty of Governance, University of Tehran. Tehran. Iran

² Professor of Energy Policy,, Energy Engineering Faculty Sharif University of Technology Tehran, Iran

10.22034/ca.2026.2081095.1961

Abstract

The South Caucasus has been an arena of great power competition over the past few decades, and its political, geopolitical, and security developments have profoundly affected relations among the region's countries and their neighbors. The central question of this study is: What consequences have the new security dynamics in the South Caucasus had for Iran–Armenia relations, and how can these consequences be explained within the framework of Regional Security Complex Theory? Drawing on this theory, the present study analyzes recent developments along two dimensions: first, the changing historical role and influence of Iran in regional equations; and second, the impact of Azerbaijan's recapture of Karabakh and Armenia's pivot toward diversifying its strategic partners. The research findings show that Tehran–Yerevan relations have increasingly shifted from a predominantly cultural–economic nature to a pragmatic cooperation, grounded in a shared threat perception of the Azerbaijan–Turkey axis and the implications of the Zangezur Corridor. This cooperation has crystallized in forms such as the development of the North–South Corridor in opposition to the Middle Corridor and the Zangezur Corridor, and the creation of a network of alternative partnerships.

Keywords

Iran

Geopolitics

Armenia

South Caucasus

Regional Security Complex Theory

Subjects