The two countries of Iran and Tajikistan have deep historical, civilizational, linguistic and cultural ties and have many commonalities in cultural manifestations such as customs and celebrities. In fact, Tajikistan is among the countries that are located in Iranian geography and civilization. It seems that the most important reason for convergence between Iran and Tajikistan begins with the cultural commonalities of the two countries, and the main component of relations between Iran and Tajikistan is cultural components. Which has later been extended to the political and economic arenas, the common history, common customs and traditions, common language and heritage between the two countries originate from a strong civilizational foundation. Therefore, after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the independence of Tajikistan, Iran and Tajikistan have organized bilateral relations with an emphasis on common historical and cultural commonalities. Iran was the first country to recognize Tajikistan's independence from the Soviet Union and was the first country to open its embassy in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. Relations between the two countries have been affected by various variables, with ups and downs, especially in the past two decades. The invitation of the leaders of the Islamic Movement of Tajikistan to Tehran caused a deterioration in the good relations between the two countries. Until the 13th government, these good relations were restored with the meeting of the heads of state of the two countries. Due to its special geographical location and its proximity to countries such as China and Afghanistan, and its location on the transit route, Tajikistan acts as a strategic bridge in the Central Asian region, and for this reason, cooperation with Tajikistan is a strategic necessity for expanding Iran's influence in Central Asia and a unique opportunity to expand economic, political and security interactions to realize Iran's national interests. However, taking advantage of the existing opportunities is not without challenges. Tajikistan, as an important country in Central Asia, is a place of competition between Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, which are present in Tajikistan as Iran's competitors and are working towards their own interests and to push Iran away from Tajikistan. In this article, we intend to answer the question using a descriptive-analytical method: How can Iran-Tajikistan relations in the years 2001-2022 be explained from the perspective of James Rosen's pre-theory? In response to this question, we believe that the opinions of the Supreme Leader, the presidents of Iran and Tajikistan as individual variables, the plans and strategies of the presidents of Iran and Tajikistan as role variables, the legislation of the legislative branch and the implementation of more than 200 agreements between the two countries by the executive branch in the past two decades as political governance variables, the common cultural and historical backgrounds between the two countries as social variables, and the policies, actions and competition of Russia, the United States, Saudi Arabia and Israel with Iran in Tajikistan as international system variables have had an undeniable impact on the relations between the two countries in the past two decades and have accompanied the relations between Iran and Tajikistan with ups and downs. Although these relations between the two countries have been expanding in recent years, we should not be oblivious to the domestic policies of Iran and the competition of other countries in Tajikistan, which lead to the cooling of relations between Tajikistan and Iran.
Relations between Iran and Tajikistan are of considerable importance due to the cultural and historical similarities they have had since the past. Iran and Tajikistan are two countries with historical ties in both language and culture and strong traditions of friendship and beneficial cooperation. Relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Tajikistan began after the country's independence on September 18, 1991, and Iran was the first country to open its embassy in Dushanbe. Since the establishment of political relations, the President of Tajikistan has visited the Islamic Republic of Iran for a bilateral meeting thirteen times, the last time being in August 2013, and in return, the Presidents of the Islamic Republic of Iran have visited Tajikistan twelve times, the last meeting taking place in June 2013. So far, more than 170 cooperation documents in various political, security, economic, defense and cultural fields have been signed between the two countries.