The Jerusalem Post reports: “Iran continued its attempts to foster stronger ties with Central Asian countries this week. Iranian Masoud Pezeshkian hosted the prime minister of Uzbekistan.

‘Speaking in his meeting with Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Nigmatovich Aripov in Tehran on Monday, President Pezeshkian said that Iran and Uzbekistan are one soul in two bodies and have a lot in common in the historical, cultural, lingual, and religious fields,’ Iran’s state media said.

Central Asia is an increasingly important region for Iran. It has done outreach there for a variety of reasons. First of all, it is part of Iran’s policy of looking to the east toward China and South Asia. It is also part of Iran’s work to ingratiate itself with other economic blocs such as BRICS and the SCO.

It is also a way for Iran to continue to build trade ties away from the West. Central Asian countries often feel neglected, and they also seek to avoid being stuck in a post-Soviet orbit linked to Russia. They had increasingly relevance to the West during the US involvement in Afghanistan. Since then, the West has largely looked the other way. Iran is moving into the vacuum…”