DUSHANBE: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was visiting Tajikistan on Thursday to seal a rapprochement with the Central Asian state after years of frosty relations.
Despite linguistic and cultural ties, relations between Tehran and Dushanbe have been strained since the Tajik civil war in the 1990s.
“I feel like I’m in Iran. I don’t feel like that anywhere else in the world,” Pezeshkian said in a statement to the media after Tajik President Emomali Rahmon had welcomed him “home” and praised improving relations.
Iran sees boosting its foothold in Central Asia as a strategic priority, in a region where Russia and China are the dominant players.
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The five Central Asian states, including Tajikistan, were part of the Soviet Union until its 1991 collapse.
“Our cooperation can be further improved and strengthened in all areas: education, science, culture, politics and security,” Pezeshkian said in the Tajikistan capital of Dushanbe.
Pezeshkian will travel to Moscow on Friday to sign a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin — an alliance that has raised concerns in the West.
The Tajikistan presidency said in a statement that Pezeshkian’s visit would “open new pages in the history of ties between these countries, which are linguistically and culturally close”.
Separated geographically by Afghanistan, both countries speak Persian.
But ties have been chilly for years.
Dushanbe accused Tehran of supporting Islamist factions during the Tajik civil war in the 1990s, and of being close to Islamist political parties that are banned in Tajikistan — a secular Muslim country which fears the spread of radical Islam.
Iran’s former president, Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May 2024, ushered in efforts for a thaw that have been advanced by Pezeshkian.
