Iran’s ‘Pivot’ to Asia: Quest for Survival and Regional Cooperation

About the Monograph

This monograph attempts to analyse Iran’s Look East strategy, which became the macro framework of Iran’s foreign policy after the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal in 2018 and more effectively under President Ebrahim Raisi. It delves into various geopolitical and economic drivers of Iran’s pursuit of long-term partnerships with China and Russia. It seeks to understand how Iran’s regional policy is responding to the new geopolitical dynamics in Central Asia and the Caucasus following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Azerbaijan’s victory in the second Nagorno-Karabakh war. It also examines the problems and prospects in India-Iran ties, especially in the context of Iran’s Look East strategy.

About the Author

Deepika Saraswat is Associate Fellow at the West Asia Center, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. Her research focuses on Iran’s foreign policy and geopolitical developments in West Asia and Eurasia, and Indian Foreign Policy. Saraswat has a PhD in Political Geography from the Centre for International Politics organization and Disarmament, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Earlier she was Research Fellow at the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA). She has authored a book ‘Between Survival and Status: The Counter-hegemonic Geopolitics of Iran’ (ICWA & Macmillan: 2022). Her commentaries on Iran’s foreign policy have featured in national dailies and magazines including The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Open Magazine, and Frontline.