Several years ago, from 2017-2019, the region was on the verge of defeating ISIS and emerging from decades of extremism. At the time, it seemed that Iran and Turkey were ascendant and that the Arab states would have a hard time righting their ships of state to emerge more powerful. Then came the Abraham Accords, then came Oct. 7.
This proves we never know what may come next and that making predictions is a precarious endeavor.
With that in mind, it’s worth noting that on May 19, Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and a team of officials, including Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, flew to northern Iran’s border with Azerbaijan for an important meeting.
They were meeting Azerbaijan’s president and other counterparts of the Iranian officials to see a new dam. This was a significant infrastructure project, part of Tehran’s investment in such projects with its neighbors. Raisi seemed to have been pleased, boarding a helicopter with his foreign minister and the officials afterward to head back to the Iranian capital. READ MORE