PR in the Philippines

(SeaPRwire) –   As Iran grows more isolated from its Gulf neighbors, recent reports indicate Tehran has been strengthening its connections in the South Caucasus with the Republic of Georgia.

This former Soviet republic—once viewed as a hopeful candidate for EU membership and a potential NATO member—has gradually drawn nearer to Tehran.

“Iran has established an extensive network of influence in Georgia, including entities that the U.S. government has sanctioned for ties to extremism and that Washington sees as fronts for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” Giorgi Kandelaki, a former Georgian parliamentarian, told Digital.

Kandelaki, co-author of a recent Hudson Institute report entitled Georgia’s Iranian Turn: Tehran’s Rapid Expansion of Influence in a Once-Committed U.S. Ally, stated that Tbilisi’s shift toward Iran harms both Georgians and U.S. regional interests.

“Georgia’s public is overwhelmingly pro-U.S. and dedicated to Western values, and the country is regarded as a traditional U.S. ally in Washington. This situation sets a dangerous precedent, and reversing this course is in the best interest of both the U.S. and Georgian society,” he further noted.

Though Georgia has maintained diplomatic neutrality, the Hudson report outlines the emerging relationship between the two nations and how Iran uses Georgia as an intelligence network, infiltrating the country’s religious, educational, and cultural institutions to influence its society.

As early as 2007, Iran launched the Georgian branch of Al-Mustafa University, which United Against a Nuclear Iran identifies as one of Iran’s primary tools for spreading the ideology of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini—founder of the Islamic Republic—internationally.

In 2020, the U.S. Treasury Department noted that Iran’s IRGC-Quds Force uses Al-Mustafa University in Georgia as an international recruitment network for Iran and serves as a channel for the Islamic Republic’s ideological and security objectives.

“Al-Mustafa has helped unsuspecting Western tourists travel to Iran, from whom IRGC-Quds Force members tried to gather intelligence,” the Treasury Department explained. It also noted that the university organized student exchanges with foreign institutions to build intelligence sources.

A Foundation for Defense of Democracies report estimates that the university has an annual budget of $100 million and has trained tens of thousands of emissaries worldwide to promote Iran’s revolutionary ideology.

Iran has employed Georgia citizens sympathetic to its cause to carry out international crimes in support of its domestic goals.

Although no connections to the Tbilisi government have ever been established, Georgian national Agil Aslanov—who had links to organized crime—was allegedly recruited by the Quds Force to kill a prominent Jewish leader in Azerbaijan in 2022. In another incident in 2025, Georgian national Polad Omarov was charged in a New York City federal court and sentenced to 25 years in prison for trying to assassinate Masih Alinejad, a well-known Iranian activist who openly criticizes the Islamic Republic’s use of violence against peaceful demonstrators.

Following the 2003 Rose Revolution, Georgia made major strides to build political and security ties with the U.S., becoming a cornerstone of regional security in the Black Sea area. After decades of Soviet domination, Georgia aligned with the U.S., participating in missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and eventually signing a Strategic Partnership Charter with the U.S. in 2009.

Tbilisi’s relations with Tehran have expanded under the pro-Russian Georgian Dream party, which came to power in 2012. Analysts say this relationship has grown stronger since Georgia’s pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili completed her six-year term in 2024 and was succeeded by Mikheil Kavelashvili—selected by a newly formed electoral college said to be controlled by Georgian Dream backers.

Kavelashvili’s appointment came after the October 2024 parliamentary elections—marked by some irregularities, per the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi—where Georgian Dream claimed victory.

Since Georgian Dream’s contested 2024 parliamentary win, high-level ties between the two countries have continued to strengthen.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze traveled to Iran in May 2024 to attend the funeral of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi (who died in a helicopter crash) and returned in July for the inauguration of Iran’s current president, Masoud Pezeshkian. Iranian news outlets reported that both leaders lauded the deepening relationship between their nations.

Numerous Georgian firms are importing oil and petroleum products from Iran—an essential economic lifeline for the regime and its regional military operations, per Georgian NGO Civic IDEA. In 2024, Iran’s oil export earnings reached around $43 billion, making up about 57% of its total export revenue.

Civic IDEA reports that between 2022 and 2025, 72 Georgia-registered companies imported Iranian oil and petroleum—including eight linked to donors of the ruling Georgian Dream party—bolstering Iran’s income even as it faces heavy Western sanctions.

“Georgia has become Iran’s top hub for evading sanctions… channeling hard currency back to Tehran’s war machine and the IRGC via specific oil import schemes,” Nicholas Chkhaidze—a Tbilisi-based national security and strategic communications analyst—told Digital.

Chkhaidze noted that these Georgian oil-importing companies pay in cash, allowing them to circumvent international banking sanctions.

“The scale is enormous, as Tehran uses the proceeds from these schemes to finance its regional activities,” Chkhaidze asserted.

Phone and email requests for comment sent to Georgia’s government went unanswered. A spokesperson for Iran’s mission to the United Nations declined to comment on the bilateral relationship.