Iranian Soft Power and Religion in Bosnia: A Diplomacy of Shared Oppression

Following the collapse of Yugoslavia and war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iran stepped in to aid Bosnia’s beleaguered Muslims in their defense. Personal links were established between the Bosnian Muslim leadership and high-ranking Iranian officials. Iran saw Bosnia as an opportunity to exert its influence, while the Bosniak Muslim leadership welcomed Iranian financial, diplomatic, and military assistance as it was receiving no such help from the West. This short film, produced by journalist and scholar Harun Karčić, analyses the history of Bosnian-Iranian relations and whether Iran succeeded in achieving its goals in post-war Bosnia.

To learn more about Iranian influence on Islam in Bosnia, check out these related resources:

“Globalisation and Islam in Bosnia: Foreign Influences and their Effects”
Harun Karčić
Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions, 2010
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/1...

“U.S. Didn’t Anticipate Wider Iran Bosnia Role”
Doyle McManus and James Risen
Los Angeles Times, 1996
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-x...

“Western Balkans at the Crossroads: Assessing Influences of Non-Western External Actors”
Barbora Chrzová, Anja Grabovac, Martin Hála, and Jan Lalić
Prague Security Studies Institute, 2019
https://cepa.org/cepa_files/Western_B...

“Iran in the Balkans: A History and a Forecast”
Gordon N. Bardos
World Affairs, 2013
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43554740...

Watch other documentaries on religious soft power in Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Islam in Bosnia After Communism: The Saudi Connection
   • Islam in Bosnia After Communism: The ...  

Turkey’s Influence on Bosnian Islam: Neo-Ottomanism Meets Post-Communism
   • Turkey’s Influence on Bosnian Islam: ...  

To learn more about the activities of the Geopolitics of Religious Soft Power project, visit http://bit.ly/ReligiousSoftPower

This video is made possible by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The statements made and views expressed in this video are solely the responsibility of the authors and interviewees.