The 15th issue of the Journal for Iranian Studies, published by the International Institute for Iranian Studies (Rasanah), includes five research articles and a book review of Iran’s Influence in Sub-Saharan Africa. The first article featured is “Iran’s Insistence on Uranium Enrichment: Motives and Repercussions” by Dr. Sami al-Harbi, a nuclear affairs academic and researcher. He reveals the Iranian motivations for insisting on enriching uranium locally despite the wide-ranging sanctions imposed on the country as a result of it, and despite international guarantees to secure its nuclear fuel needs and the fact that the economic benefit of enriching uranium overseas would be greater than enriching it at home.
The second article, penned by Naveed Ahmad, a Middle Eastern geostrategic affairs researcher, focuses on the impact of geopolitical shifts on Iranian Turk Azeris in the aftermath of the Nagorno-Karabakh war. The third article is “Environmental Policymaking in Iran: Actors and Determinants” by Mohammad Abdulhadi Shantir, a researcher on political science, decentralization, and local affairs. The article sheds light on how policies are developed and the relationships between environmental actors. It also explores the sharp contrast between the prioritization of economic development and the systematic neglect of urgent environmental issues, revealing the complex problems and lack of justice and equality between different regions in Iran.
Professor Mohammad al-Amin bin Awda, a lecturer in political science and international relations at the University of Tamanrasset in Algeria, wrote the fourth article, titled “Algerian Policy Toward Iran: Balancing Commitments to the Arab World with National Interests.” The fifth article, authored by Ghadi Hassan Qandil, an Asian affairs researcher, examines the Iranian-Turkish rivalry in Central Asia. It sheds light on the nature of Iran and Turkey’s relationship in Central Asia and the motivations behind their interest in the region, drawing comparisons between the two countries’ ambitions in the region and the impact of this on the systematic strategy to extend Iranian and Turkish clout there. This necessitates an examination of Iran-Turkey bilateral relations in light of the common denominators and overlapping issues, as well as the opportunities and challenges they present.
Finally, this publication includes a book review of Iran’s Influence in Sub-Saharan Africa authored by Dr. Mohammed bin Saqr Alsulami and Mahmoud Hamdi Abulqassem. This review analyzes Iranian clout in Sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting the nature and scale of Iranian influence in this region. The book clarifies the stages of Shiite expansionism in Iran’s Lebensraums: spreading Shiism, politicizing Shiism, the militarization of Shiism and the integration of Shiism. The book reveals, through the questions it raises in its different chapters, the dimensions and features of the Iranian role in Sub-Saharan Africa.
