The House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia discussed Iranian influence in the South Caucasus and the surrounding region, including Europe and Central Asia.
The South Caucasus, which includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, is an energy and security corridor linking Europe to Central Asia as well as to the Middle East and South Asia including Afghanistan.
The Subcommittee talked about recent Iranian-sponsored terrorist activity against U.S. and Israeli targets in Azerbaijan and Georgia and the threat that Iran poses to the stability of the South Caucasus region.
Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) will chair the hearing.
Witnesses included: Ariel Cohen, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation's Institute for International Studies; Michael Rubin, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute; Alex Vatanka, adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute; and Brenda Shaffer, senior lecturer at the University of Haifa.