Iran-Russia Relations and the Changing Geopolitics of the Caucasus (1521-1722)

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, History Depertment, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

2 Professor of Historical Science, North Ossetian State University, Vladikavkaz, Russia

10.22059/jcep.2025.371683.450195

Abstract

Introduction: During the 16th to 19th centuries, the Caucasus region was a battleground for Iran, the Ottoman Empire and Russia. Initially, Iran and Russia sought an alliance after the Ottoman invasion of the South Caucasus in the late 1570s, but internal issues and logistics hindered progress. With the rise of Abbas, I (1587-1629) in Iran and Michael Romanov (1613-1645) in Russia, a new stage in relations began. The treaty of Zuhâb (1639) between Iran and the Ottomans established a new regional order and the thriving silk road through the Caspian Sea attracted many Western delegations to Iran. Armenian merchants negotiated new treaties with the Tsar and strengthened Russian-Iranian trade relations until the 18th century. However, the collapse of the Safavid Empire led to a crisis, with rebel groups plundering Shamâkhī and the Ottomans seizing the South Caucasus. During the reign of Peter, I (1689-1725), Russia occupied parts of Iran, marking a significant turning point in their relations throughout the 18th century.
Research question: The main topic of this research deals with the position of the Caucasus in the formation and evolution of relations between Safavid Iran and Moscow Russia. Its goals are to explain the situation in the Caucasus and turn it into a geopolitical issue between Iran, Ottoman and Russia.
Research hypothesis: Due to the emergence of a new order in the 16th and 17th centuries, which was the result of global and regional developments, the Caucasus played a fundamental role in the formation, direction, and evolution of new relations between Iran and Russia.
Methodology: This aim of this historical research is to address the subject from an interdisciplinary perspective. Using a wide range of primary sources, this study employs a descriptive-explanatory method to shed light on this distinct phase of Iran-Russia relations. Simultaneously, geopolitical concepts have also been used to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the main topic.
 
Results and discussion: The nature of Iran-Russia relations in the new era has clearly been influenced by the two countries positions in the Caucasus region. The beginning of new relations between the two countries coincided with the establishment of the Safavid government and the emergence of Moscow Russia in the first half of the 16th century. In addition to the traditional trade relations between Iranians and Russians, another logic linked these two powers and that was the confrontation with a common enemy, the Ottomans. The Ottoman Empire, which emerged on the dead Byzantium empire in the western region of Asia Minor, had become a great and expanding power in the course of the 16th century. This power saw the Safavid state as a geopolitical threat to its influence in Asia Minor, while also claiming sovereignty over the Crimean Khanate, which it considered itself the legitimate heir to the Golden Army. The dismantling of the Kazan and Astrakhan Khanates by Ivan IV meant, from a geopolitical perspective, that the Russians were gradually approaching the Ottoman sphere of influence in the Black Sea region. Russia was in a superior position, both geographically and militarily, to expand its influence in the North Caucasus, relative to Crimea and the Ottomans. Therefore, Iran and Russia had a specific incentive to establish a relationship based on hostility towards the Ottomans.
During the reign of Shah Abbas I, Iran successfully restored its ancient authority in the Caucasus and expanded its administrative territory as far north as Darband in Dagestan. Shah Abbas's achievements in this field increased security and led to the development and prosperity of Iranian and Russian trade through the Caucasus. However, the competition between the two countries to expand their influence in the North Caucasus continued, leading to a passive military confrontation during the reign of Shah Abbas II. Meanwhile, these complex relations led to a significant and unprecedented boom in Iranian-Russian trade at the beginning of the 18th century. However, it also caused the Iranian kings to worry about the gradual expansion of Russia. In the 1720s, with the fall of Isfahan and the campaign of Peter the Great’s, Iran entered a new phase that fundamentally affected the future of relations between the two countries.
 
Conclusion: The success of the Safavid government, especially Shah Abbas I, in establishing Iranian peripheral authority in the Caucasus and imposing it on the Ottomans, along with the commercial attractiveness of Iran, led the Russians to develop political and commercial relations with this country. A relationship that included competition for influence in the Caucasus. This relationship continued with pessimism until the end of the Safavid rule. At this stage, maritime trade between the two countries centered on Shamakhi - in the South Caucasus – experienced an unprecedented boom, parallel to the development of Peter I's Asian strategy, prompting the Tsar to strive for a bilateral agreement with Iran. This treaty was intended to provide a specific legal framework for relations between the two countries, the main goals of which were to guarantee the interests of the merchants of the two countries and cooperation against the Ottoman Empire. The crisis of the Safavid government and its collapse forced Russia to fight to prevent the Ottoman advance and complete occupation of the Caucasus. The result was the 1724 treaty of Istanbul, which divided the Caucasus between two rivals. However, the structural ties, the administrative legacy of the Safavid state and Iran's geopolitical advantage in the South Caucasus were still preserved, in case if a new authority emerged, the aggressors would be expelled from Iranian territory and a regional order in the country's favor would be established in the Caucasus.

Keywords

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