This book, the first in a new series from the Daedalos Institute of Geopolitics in Cyprus, asks whether Iran has pretensions to become the leader of the Muslim world, posing the following questions: Does the Islamic Republic intend to acquire a nuclear bomb? What is its energy policy and how does the world’s need for hydrocarbons bolster the country’s geopolitical position? What does the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad mean for the factionalism and power struggles of Iranian politics? What is the relationship between the clergy and the ‘neo-conservatives’ who now control the presidency? What are Iran’s relations with the other great powers, especially Russia and India? This volume contains incisive commentary from the world’s leading experts on this, one of the planet’s most intriguing and mysterious states. It is a key source of reference material on a country which is seldom far from the centre of world affairs. From Geopolitical Affairs Series Editor and Editor-in-Chief, Michel Korinman: This new book series will cover global and regional geopolitics and current affairs.Each volume contains articles by commentators from all ends of the political spectrum, the goal being to present as many different points of view as possible. Further titles in the series will include: Migration in Europe and the Mediterranean; Russia/Caucasus/Eastern Europe; and, The Americas. Geopolitical Affairs is published by the Daedalos Institute of Geopolitics in Cyprus in cooperation with OGENI, the Geopolitical Observatory for Nations and the World (Observatoire geopolitique des espaces nationaux et internationaux) at the Sorbonne in Paris.