Turkey sees opportunity in Iran-West faceoff under Raisi
Raisi’s hard-line approach may further sharpen disagreements between Ankara and Tehran over Syria and Iraq, but Ankara also sees new opportunities under the new Iranian leadership.
Turkey-Iran relations are laden with risk but also new opportunities under the administration of Iran’s newly inaugurated president, Ebrahim Raisi — a hard-liner with close ties with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the country's establishment.
In Iran, the supreme leader and Supreme National Security Council has always been influential in the country’s foreign and security policies. Thus, the presidential transition, which has seen the moderate Hassan Rouhani succeeded by the conservative Raisi, might not bring radical changes in foreign policy. Tehran’s ties with Ankara will maintain their importance as long as Western-led isolation policy and sanctions against Iran remain intact — a situation that helps keep Ankara-Tehran ties at a manageable level, despite some ongoing disagreements.
