Tarkhanova, Zhanna D.
Izvestia SOIGSI. 2024. IIS 51 (90). P.65-86.

Abstract:
The article reveals the peculiarities of the Caucasian foreign policy of the Islamic
Republic of Iran and the information strategies of the Iranian press on the coverage of South
Caucasian ethnopolitical conflicts on the example of the August 2008 war and post-conflict
settlement. The reasons for the “ambivalent” policy of the IRI in the region due to complex
political, trade, economic, historical and cultural factors affecting the activities of the IRI in
the South Caucasus are revealed. A comparative analysis of the policy of Iran and Turkey
is carried out, an official “flexible” strategy in relations with the post-Soviet republics:
Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia is revealed, which consists in recognizing the territorial
integrity of these countries, while relations are complicated by a number of aspects, in the
case of Georgia, this is Tbilisi’s pro–Western, Euro-Atlantic course unfriendly to Iran. The
problem is considered in the context of Iranian-Russian relations and Iranian-Georgian
relations, which were characterized by certain problems during the period under review:
the position of the Russian Federation in the UN on Iran’s nuclear program; integration
processes and trends initiated by Georgia with NATO and the European Union. These
factors determined Iran’s diplomatic activities in relation to the August crisis and the postconflict
period. The problem is investigated based on the materials of the Iranian state and
pro-government media, as well as the regional press for the period from August 2008 to
December 2017, official documents of Iran, Georgia, scientific papers of scientists dealing
with regional security issues in the South Caucasus. The transformation of the foreign
policy concept of the Iranian Foreign Ministry and official media from 2008 to 2017 in
the context of relations with the Republic of South Ossetia is revealed. The information
approaches of the Iranian media correspond to the official foreign policy strategy of Iran,
and there is a lack of an alternative previously approved information concept.

Keywords: Iran, Georgia, South Ossetia, the Caucasian politics of Iran, the August 2008 war, media.

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