Iranians Balance Ties with Russia Tehran Seeks Influence in New Islamic Republics, While Preserving Agreements with Moscow

Claude van England, Monitor, The Christian Science Monitor

IRAN'S diplomacy toward the former Soviet republics is dominated by an emotional desire to reestablish close ties with a region that was once part of the Persian empire and by the political expediency of maintaining good relations with Russia.

Both aims are sometimes difficult to combine, forcing Iranian diplomats to walk a tightrope, they and other observers say.

"We would like Russia to be a regional power counterbalancing {United States} influence in the Middle East," explains an Iranian ambassador in Europe. "We presently see Russia as a country that has just lost its Central Asian colonial empire. History has shown that after getting rid of colonies, some …

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Publication information: Article title: Iranians Balance Ties with Russia Tehran Seeks Influence in New Islamic Republics, While Preserving Agreements with Moscow. Contributors: Claude van England, Monitor - Author. Newspaper title: The Christian Science Monitor. Publication date: April 27, 1992. Page number: 2. © 2009 The Christian Science Publishing Society. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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