Summary 

Winter 1979 shook Iran’s political landscape and replaced its Western-backed monarch with the anti-American reactionary Islamic Republic, triggering decades of political pressure, military threats, and economic sanctions, often led by the United States. By the time Tehran began the negotiations that ultimately resulted in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) curbing the country’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief, two international giants, Russia and China, had fully formed political partnerships, defense cooperation, and economic and trade relations with the pariah state. Today, as the United States under President Donald Trump once again strives to pressure Tehran, Beijing and Moscow serve as a bulwark and help the Middle Eastern nation overcome isolation. Dina Esfandiary and Ariane Tabatabai look at the political, economic, and defense ties between Iran and Russia on the one hand and Iran and China on the other. They argue that the Iranian model is likely to be used by other states, thus undermining the efficacy of Western instruments of power, particularly sanctions.  

Bios

Dina Esfandiary is a 2018-2019 International Security Program Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, a CSSS Fellow in the War Studies department at King’s College London, and an Adjunct Fellow in the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) Middle East Programme.

Dr. Ariane Tabatabai is the Director of Curriculum and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Security Studies at the Georgetown University Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service; an Adjunct Senior Fellow with the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security; a 2017-18 Research Fellow in the International Security Program at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and an International Civilian Consultant for NATO; Columnist for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; and Truman National Security Fellow.