Bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Iran are complex and filled with escalating tensions, demographic and territorial challenges, as well as mutually beneficial cooperation. With economic sanctions lifted (at the time of this writing) as a result of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran has embarked on a path towards economic recovery, a window of opportunity for reaching the status of regional power is opening. Whether the future scenario of post-sanctions Iran generates increased economic cooperation and regional stability, or whether Iran will emerge as a regional hegemon possessing nuclear weapons, is impossible to predict but the direction of Iran’s post-sanction foreign policy is of a major concern to Azerbaijan, Iran’s South Caucasian neighbour.
Keywords: Azerbaijan-Iran Bilateral Relations, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Policy, the Iran Nuclear Deal, Conflict in Syria