Zakiyeh Yazdanshenas is an assistant professor in Global Studies at the University of Tehran and a senior research fellow at the Center for Scientific Research and Middle East Strategic Studies in Tehran. She is the director of the China-MENA project at the center. Graduated from the University of Tehran, her PhD dissertation dealt with US Asian Strategy and its implications for the Middle East. Interested in inter-regional security studies, Zakiyeh’s research has mainly focused on the US-China rivalry and its impact on the Middle East, China’s growing role in the region, and Iran’s regional policy. She has published different papers and policy pieces on platforms like Foreign Policy, the Middle East Institute and the Atlantic Council.

Focus & Topics: Iran’s foreign policy; geopolitics of the Persian Gulf; China-Middle East relations

Yazdanshenas[at]carpo-bonn.org

Selected Publications:

• ‘The Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s active deterrence strategy’, in: Ranjan, A. & Shuja, A. (eds.): Circumventing Persian Gulf Chokepoint: Infrastructure, Strategy and Geopolitics. Singapore 2024.
• China’s Growing Role in the Middle East. The Iranian Perspective, Study, Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation 2024. Available online.
• & Alam Saleh: ‘China-Iran strategic partnership and the future of US hegemony in the Persian Gulf region’, in: British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 51/2 (2023), pp. 377-400. Available online.
• ‘Iran amid conflicting geopolitical dynamics in the Middle East’, Middle East Institute, December 2023. Available online.
• ‘Iran Turns East’, in: Foreign Policy, October 2021. Available online.