Struggle for Alliance

Abdolrasool Divsallar is a Visiting Professor at the Universita’ Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, Italy, and a senior researcher at the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR). He is also a Non-Resident Scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington D.C, USA. He co-founded and led the Regional Security Initiative at the European University Institute from 2020-22. Dr. Divsallar’s focus and interests include Russia-Iran relations, military strategies in the Persian Gulf, Iran’s military and foreign affairs, regional security reform, non-proliferation issues, and security assistance. He has written and edited eight books, including Stepping Away From the Abyss: A Gradual Approach Towards a New Security System in the Persian Gulf (2021), and has published numerous peer review journal articles.

Introduction: What Makes a New Study Needed?
Abdolrasool Divsallar

Part 1 – Domestic Debates: Between State enthusiasm and public uncertainty

Chapter 1. Iran's Ascent in Russian Foreign Policy Thinking: The Emergence of a New Paradigm
Nicole Grajewski, Postdoctoral Fellow with the Belfer Center at Harvard's Kennedy School

Chapter 2. The Ukraine War and Internal Debates in Iran
Mahmood Shoori, Deputy Director of the Institute for Iran & Eurasia Studies

Chapter 3. Identity, Statehood, and Strategic Sympathy
Dianna Galeeva, Visiting Fellow at Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies

Part 2 – Systemic Constraints

Chapter 4. Russian Policy in the MENA and Mediterranean Regions: Implications for Iran
Mark N. Katz, Professor of Government and Politics at the George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government

Chapter 5. The Principle of Strategic Stability: Russia’s Nuclear Policy Towards Iran
Anastasia Malygina, Associate Professor at the School of International Relations at St. Petersburg State University

Part 3 – A Hybrid Status: Competition amid Cooperation

Chapter 6. Anti-Americanism and a Dream of Non-Western Order
Jeffrey Mankoff, Distinguished Research Fellow at the U.S. National Defense University's Institute for National Strategic Studies
Mahsa Rouhi, Research Fellow at the U.S. National Defense University’s Institute for National Strategic Studies

Chapter 7. Countering Sanctions: New Economic and Trade Prospects
Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, Founder and CEO, the Bourse & Bazaar Foundation

Chapter 8. Why Russian Energy Interests Cannot Match Iranian Ones
Jakub M. Godzimirski, Research Professor at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs

Chapter 9. How the War in Ukraine Changes Russia and Iran’s Posture in Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean
Hamidreza Azizi, Visiting Fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP)

Part 4 – The Future of relations
Chapter 10. Is An Authoritarian Alliance Emerging?
Abdolrasool Divsallar

Conclusion
Abdolrasool Divsallar