In an unprecedented move that surprised many observers around the world, Tajikistan’s state TV on Aug. 8 aired a documentary accusing Iran of involvement in the murder of several Tajik social and political figures as well as 20 Russian military officers in the country during the 1990s Tajik civil war. The documentary further claimed that at the time, Iran had organized a plot to “eliminate Tajik scientists and intellectuals.” The accusations, emphatically rejected by Iran, were just the latest and the most blatant move by the Tajikistan government against the Islamic Republic.

On June 30, it was announced that Tajik authorities had ordered the closure of Iran’s economic and cultural centers in the northern city of Khujand. Unofficial news sources indicate that in spite of Russian and Chinese support for Iran to become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Tajikistan’s repeated opposition has been the main hurdle in this regard.

According to the Tajik government's official narrative, the main reason behind the recent tension is Iran’s support of “terrorist organizations” targeting the Dushanbe government and Tehran's attempt to promote “Islamic radicalism” in Tajikistan. In fact, such claims have been the centerpiece of Tajik officials’ accusations against Iran since December 2015, when Muhiddin Kabiri, a Tajik opposition figure and leader of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), was invited to Iran to attend the International Islamic Unity Conference. On the sidelines of the conference, Kabiri held a meeting with Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The IRPT, for more than two decades the most important opposition party in Tajikistan, had been designated a “terrorist organization” by the government in mid-2015, so Kabiri’s visit to Tehran elicited a harsh response in Dushanbe.

If one analyzes the Tehran-Dushanbe relationship within a broader historical perspective, however, it is clear that the Kabiri case merely rests upon the deeper roots of ongoing tensions. To better understand situation, it is necessary to consider Tajikistan’s economic situation and the role of foreign finance and investment in its economy.