Evaluating the Position of Iran in Energy Transmission Relations in the South Caucasus

Being located at the border of Europe and Asia, the Caucasus is a high quality region in terms of energy. The huge oil and gas reserves in this region have led to entry of regional and trans-regional countries as well as different companies. One of the most important issues about energy in the South Caucasus is the energy transmission issue. Various plans and projects, including the Nabucco pipeline, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, were proposed and done by the United States and the Western powers that in most of the projects, Iran did not enjoy a special status. The main question of the research is that what is the position of Iran in the energy transmission lines in the South Caucasus? The main hypothesis is that due to the presence of regional and trans-national powers, Iran has not been able to have an outstanding place in the energy transmission lines in the South Caucasus (especially in Nabucco, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum). In other words, anti-Iran policies, especially by the United States, are a major obstacle to Iran's participation in such projects. The United State's support for energy transmission projects with the aim of the political considerations such as isolating Iran as well as restricting all the ways of Russian exports in order to maintain its traditional control and influence on newly independent countries are two of the most important reasons of ignoring Iran from energy transmission projects to South Africa.