EL GRAN CÁUCASO - IEEE

José Luis Calvo Albero
ABSTRACT
Iranian influence on the South Caucasus and the Caspian Sea coast
goes back millennia. Iran (Persia) is the power that was always there.
But in recent centuries this influence was relegated to the background
for the supremacy of the Ottoman and Russian empires. Iran is trying
to regain some of its traditional influence, though aware of his difficult
position. The objectives of Tehran are maintaining good relations with
its neighbors, preventing them from becoming bases for a possible
attack against its territory, engage in the business of export of energy
resources in the region, and try to break the international isolation the
country suffers currently. As a result, the threatening rhetoric that Iran
uses against the West, Israel and the Gulf states, does not correspond
with the attitude it takes dialogue with its neighbors in the Caucasus
and the Caspian regions
Key words:
Iran, Caucasus, Caspian Sea, Central Asia