Ex Oriente Lux 2021

181 Ранджбар Мешкин Российский университет дружбы народов, Факультет гуманитарных и социальных наук THE IRAN’S STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP PRESENCE MISSION ACROSS THE AFRICAN CONTINENTAL REGION As the Biden Administration focuses on resuming nuclear diplomacy with Teh- ran, in this sense Iran is stepping up its activities in an important and strategic arena moving forward to North African area by and large. As we review US foreign policy toward North Africa, the continuing unrest in Libya, and the growing instability in the coastal region, we find that a country like Iran has a great opportunity to influ- ence on it as a focus region. Talking about Iran’s partnership presence mission in West Africa is no longer accurate. Iran is present all over the continent. Iran is establishing a stable presence mission through cultural centers and informal contacts across the African continent, taking advantage of Lebanese immigrants from across the Africa. There is credible evidence that Iran is dealing with regional groups. For exam- ple, Iran has supporting the left wing of the Polisario Front since 2017 through Leb- anese Hezbollah forces. Likewise, Iran now has a significant presence mission in Mauritania and close proximity to Tunisia and is believed to be recruiting from both countries. The pattern of Iran’s activity in Africa is quite familiar. This pattern is very close to Iran’s efforts over the past 15 years to infiltrate Latin America and set up a support scene in the Western Hemisphere to help circumvent sanctions. Three factors led Iran to be more active in Africa as following: 1) The first one is strategic opportunism. The African continent’s share of the global economy and international relations is growing by and large. 2) The second one is Iran’s strategic efforts to reduce the US government’s max- imum pressure. 3) The third, Iran has become significantly more interested in Africa since the assassination of General Soleimani.