Fox News: Iran is using Georgia to bypass sanctions
The American TV channel Fox News has reported that Iran is using Georgia as a channel to bypass Western sanctions and to provide financial support for its military infrastructure.
The report is based on a study by the Hudson Institute, which discusses Tehran’s growing interest in the South Caucasus, and in particular, in deepening its relations with Georgia.
According to the article, Iran, facing growing isolation in the region, is trying to develop new economic and logistical channels. In this context, Georgia — which has “for years sought integration with the West and has been considered a potential member of NATO and the European Union” — is gradually falling within Tehran’s sphere of strategic interest.
Co-author of the report, Giorgi Kandelaki, stated in an interview that such a shift in Tbilisi’s foreign policy poses a threat both to Georgia’s internal development and to U.S. interests in the region.
The article pays special attention to a branch of Al-Mustafa University in Georgia (which does not have official accreditation). According to the organization United Against Nuclear Iran, it is one of the tools used to spread Iranian ideological influence.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury stated in 2020 that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its Quds Force use Al-Mustafa University in Georgia as part of an international recruitment network for Iran, as well as a channel for promoting the Islamic Republic’s ideological and security interests.
The same Treasury statement also noted that the university facilitates student exchanges with foreign universities in order to develop sources of intelligence for Iran.
The Fox News article also cites several specific cases in which Iran allegedly used sympathetic Georgian individuals to carry out international crimes in support of its domestic policies.
Although no links to the government in Tbilisi have ever been established, it is reported that Georgian citizen Agil Aslanov, who had ties to organized crime, was recruited by the Quds Force to assassinate a prominent Jewish leader in Azerbaijan in 2022.
In another case, in 2025, Georgian citizen Polad Omarov was charged in a federal court in New York and sentenced to 25 years in prison for attempting to assassinate well-known Iranian activist Masih Alinejad, a vocal critic of Iran’s use of violence against peaceful protesters.
The article recalls that after the “Rose Revolution” of 2003, Georgia активно strengthened its partnership with Washington, took part in international military missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in 2009 signed the Charter on Strategic Partnership.
The author notes that this period is considered one of the symbols of the country’s strengthening Western orientation.
However, according to the author, this direction gradually changed after the Georgian Dream party came to power in 2012. The author links this process to domestic political changes in Georgia, including a redistribution of power and the formation of a new political elite.
Special attention is given to the fact that in 2024, Salome Zourabichvili left the post of president, and Mikheil Kavelashvili was elected in her place, which, in the author’s view, also affected the country’s foreign policy course.
“Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze visited Iran in May 2024 for the funeral of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter accident, and again in July to attend the inauguration of Iran’s current president, Masoud Pezeshkian, where Iranian news agencies reported both leaders praised the growing relationship between the two countries,” the author writes.
The article also discusses the economic aspect. The Georgian non-governmental organization Civic IDEA reports that dozens of companies registered in Georgia imported Iranian oil and petroleum products between 2022 and 2025.
According to the organization, some of these companies are linked to sponsors of the ruling party, which, in the authors’ view, raises additional questions about the connection between political and economic interests.
In conclusion, the article notes that the Georgian government did not respond to phone calls or emails requesting comment on the situation. A representative of Iran’s mission to the UN declined to comment on relations between Iran and Georgia.
Context
The study titled “Georgia’s Turn Toward Iran: The Rapid Expansion of Tehran’s Influence in a Country That Was Once a Key U.S. Ally” was published on March 3. Its authors are Luke Coffey, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, and Giorgi Kandelaki, a project director at the “Laboratory for the Study of the Soviet Past.”
According to the report, Iran’s political, religious, economic, and cultural influence in Georgia has “increased sharply” in recent years and, in some areas, has become “systemic.” The authors argue that this process is part of a broader geopolitical realignment that also includes closer ties with Moscow.
In the authors’ view, this trend is also affecting the domestic political situation in the country — weakening democratic institutions, increasing legal pressure on pro-Western NGOs and media, and undermining Georgia’s traditional partnership with the West.
A few days after the study was published, on March 7, Georgia’s State Security Service summoned several politicians and experts for questioning, including opposition politician Gubaz Sanikidze, former Defense Minister Tina Khidasheli, study co-author Giorgi Kandelaki, former Member of Parliament Givi Targamadze, and Major General Vakhtang Kapanadze.
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