Iran Deepens Ties with Georgia Amid Regional Isolation

With Iran increasingly isolated among its Gulf neighbors, Tehran has been strategically deepening its ties with the Republic of Georgia, raising concerns about Iranian influence in the South Caucasus region.

The former Soviet republic, once viewed as an aspiring European Union and potential NATO member candidate, has gradually shifted closer to Iran in recent years, particularly under the governance of the pro-Russia Georgian Dream party that took power in 2012.

“Iran has built a vast influence infrastructure in Georgia, which includes entities sanctioned by the U.S. government for links to extremism and viewed in Washington as fronts for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” said Giorgi Kandelaki, former member of the Georgian Parliament and co-author of a recent Hudson Institute report titled “Georgia’s Iranian Turn: Tehran’s Rapid Expansion of Influence in a Once-Committed U.S. Ally.”

According to analysts, Iran has systematically developed networks for intelligence infrastructure in Georgia, penetrating the country’s religious, educational, and cultural institutions to expand its influence throughout Georgian society.

As far back as 2007, Iran established the Georgian branch of Al-Mustafa University, widely considered one of Tehran’s main vehicles for spreading Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s ideology abroad. The U.S. Treasury Department identified the university in 2020 as part of an international recruitment network for Iran that serves the Islamic Republic’s ideological and security interests.

“Al-Mustafa has facilitated unwitting tourists from Western countries to come to Iran, from whom IRGC-Qud’s Force members sought to collect intelligence,” the Treasury Department stated. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies estimates the university’s annual budget at approximately $100 million and notes that it has trained tens of thousands of emissaries who spread Iran’s revolutionary ideology globally.

More concerning are cases where Iran has allegedly utilized Georgian nationals for international operations. In 2022, Georgian citizen Agil Aslanov, with reported ties to organized crime, was allegedly recruited by Iran’s Quds Forces to assassinate a prominent Jewish leader in Azerbaijan. In another case, Georgian national Polad Omarov was sentenced to 25 years in U.S. federal prison for attempting to assassinate Iranian activist Masih Alinejad, a vocal critic of the Islamic Republic.

The relationship between Georgia and Iran has intensified following Georgia’s disputed parliamentary elections in October 2024, which were marred by irregularities according to the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi. After the elections, the pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili completed her six-year term and was replaced by Mikheil Kavelashvili, chosen by an electoral college reportedly dominated by Georgian Dream supporters.

High-level diplomatic exchanges have accelerated, with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze visiting Iran twice in 2024 – first for the funeral of former Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi and later for the inauguration of current President Masoud Pezeshkian. During these meetings, both leaders reportedly praised the growing relationship between their countries.

Economic ties have also strengthened significantly. According to Georgian NGO Civic IDEA, between 2022 and 2025, 72 companies registered in Georgia imported Iranian oil and petroleum products, including eight linked to donors of the ruling Georgian Dream party. This commerce provides a vital economic lifeline for Iran’s regime and its regional operations, bypassing international sanctions.

“Georgia has become Iran’s primary sanctions-evasion hub, funneling hard currency back to Tehran’s war machine and the IRGC through specific schemes in oil imports,” said Nicholas Chkhaidze, a national security analyst based in Tbilisi. These Georgian companies reportedly pay in cash, enabling them to circumvent international banking sanctions.

The growing Iran-Georgia relationship represents a dramatic shift from Georgia’s post-Soviet trajectory. Following the 2003 Rose Revolution, Georgia had made significant progress in building political and security ties with the United States, becoming a regional security partner in the Black Sea region. Georgia contributed troops to missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and signed a Strategic Partnership Charter with the United States in 2009.

Analysts warn that Georgia’s pivot toward Iran not only undermines the country’s democratic institutions and Western aspirations but also presents strategic challenges for U.S. interests in the region. “This reality presents a terrible precedent, and reversing this trajectory is in the interest of both the U.S. but also Georgian society,” Kandelaki concluded.

Requests for comment from the Georgian government and Iran’s mission to the United Nations received no response.