Under the Shadow of International Sanctions: Turkish-Iranian Economic Relations 1996-2014

BILGESAM Analysis, n° 1111, 17 January 2014
Wise Men Center for Strategic Studies (BILGESAM)

Süleyman Elik *

During the era of Muhammad Reza Shah, Iran acted as the ‘gendarme of the Persian Gulf’ in order to protect US interests in the Middle East. This was in tandem with most of the European states who operated their Middle East policies from Tehran. In 1978, over 100,000 Western people, including 40,000 American, who engaged with official and private sector projects in both the civilian and military field, lived in Iran.

* Süleyman Elik is currently working at Istanbul Medeniyet University, the Faculty of Political Science/ International Relations.

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