Tehran Turns to Central Asia for Trade as Conflict With U.S. Simmers

Iran is making a push to expand connectivity with Central Asian states, with high-level Iranian officials engaging their counterparts from four of the five regional states over the past week alone. On the sidelines of the October 19 Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in Dushanbe, Tajik leader Emomali Rahmon talked trade with Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref. Without providing specific numbers, Aref claimed that bilateral volume had increased 50 percent since the start Tehran’s low-boil conflict with the United States.…