The international arena is experiencing a period of transition and uncertainty, and different countries follow specific and diverse approaches based on national, regional, and international priorities, which are emerging based on the interpretations of the transition order, the global south, multilateralism, etc. In this regard, every year, a full-fledged international conference is held with the special care and attention of the president, whose goal is to reform the geopolitical spaces and defeat the global ruling order, which is the main cause of crises and insecurities.

Also, the goal of the conference is a comprehensive topic about the Eurasian security perspective in the context of the current world order crisis, the chronic military and political conflicts between the key global actors and the almost complete lack of communication between them. Several specific topics will be discussed at the event, including global and regional geopolitical prerequisites for Eurasian security, economic integration and links towards a single Eurasian security architecture, the interaction of international/regional organizations in the Eurasian space, strategic stability and nuclear weapons and threats and opportunities for Eurasia in the new environment.

It is no secret that this landlocked country borders three European Union countries: Ukraine and Russia. Its economy is 80% government and export-oriented. After the war, it has become very close to Russia and, in some way, is seriously assisting in operations against Ukraine. in the last few years, President Lukashenko has focused on the issue of the global south, moving towards multilateralism and fighting against the hegemon of the West. This country played a key role in freeing Putin from Prigozhin's chaos.

Political relations between the Republic of Belarus and the Islamic Republic of Iran were established on March 18, 1993. On March 8, 1998, the Embassy of Belarus was opened in Tehran, and the Embassy of Iran in Minsk started working in February 2001. Three visits of the President of Belarus to Iran took place in (1998, 2006, and 2023) and two visits of the President of Iran to Belarus (2004 and 2007). On July 9, 2015, on the sidelines of the BRICS and Shanghai cooperation summits in Ufa, the President of Belarus, Mr. Alexander Grigorovich Lukashenko, met with the President of Iran, Mr. Hassan Rouhani. The presidents of the states of Belarus and Iran met on June 9, 2018, at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Qingdao and on February 14, 2019, in Sochi, along with the presidents of Russia and Turkey, in the framework of the tripartite summit on the Syrian crisis.

During 29 years of diplomatic relations, Belarus and Iran have achieved a relative level of economic cooperation, which is indicated by regular contacts at the president level of the two countries. The volume of bilateral exchanges is less than fifty million dollars. The signing of the free trade agreement with the Asian Economic Union, of which Belarus is one of the main members, helped to increase the economic interactions between Iran and the member countries of this union. There are about 800-900 Iranians in Belarus, of which more than 350 are students.

Currently, Russia is the largest trading partner of Belarus, and 60% of the country's trade is with Russia. The volume of exchanges after the war in Ukraine has increased greatly and is about 6 billion dollars. Russia is the biggest lender to Belarus, and 38% of the country's foreign debts belong to Russia. The most important indicator of the economic relations between the two countries is the subsidy that Russia has given to Belarus for many years on the price of oil and gas exports to help the country's economy, and of course, its amount has been limited in recent years.

In addition to economy and trade, important agreements in the military and security fields have been signed between the two countries since 1992, which cover a wide range of fields from the production of military weapons to joint maneuvers. Cooperation agreements in the field of the right to use facilities in each other's territory, cooperation between border forces to protect the borders of Belarus, formation of a regional unit group of forces of Belarus and Russia, joint air defense system and regional security system, are among of these agreements. Also, the many cultural commonalities, especially the common language, is an advantage that has made Belarusian citizens use Russian resources and media on a large scale, and as a result, Russia's soft power in this country is at a high level compared to other countries.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus announced that Moscow and Minsk will sign an agreement on bilateral security guarantees in December 2024, mostly related to the conditions for the use of nuclear weapons to counter foreign threats. In any case, the interests of Russia and Belarus are so connected that every person in power in this country prioritizes the relationship with Russia.

This country's relations with the West, especially Europe, are in the worst condition after independence, and the West has a similar approach to Russia with White Russia, which is symbolized by the set of sanctions against this country. A series of Western sanctions have been adopted due to Belarus's support to Russia in the Ukraine war and human rights issues in the form of various sanctions regimes. Some of these sanctions in the form of individual measures are:

• A travel ban for individuals (the president and a number of ministers and security officials) along with asset freezes for individuals and entities, as well as a ban on the export of firearms, dual-use goods, goods, and technology in the aviation, marine navigation, space and defense industries and luxury goods to Belarus
• Ban on import of gold, diamonds, helium, coal, and mineral products, including crude oil from Belarus
• Banning SWIFT for four Belarusian banks and banning transactions with the central bank, along with restrictions on financial inflows from Belarus to the EU and a ban on presenting euro banknotes.
• Provisions on restrictive measures in relation to measures undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of Ukraine

Ali Bemaneghbali Zarch, Head of the Eurasian Studies Department

 (The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the IPIS)