Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during their meeting in Moscow on January 19, 2022. (Photo by Pavel Bednyakov/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)

Michael Doran, director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East. Photo illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi delivers a speech in the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque in downtown Tehran on January 3, 2022. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Azerbaijan flag waving in center of the city on November 28, 2020 in Baku, Azerbaijan. (Photo by Aziz Karimov/Getty Images)

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev poses with a Harop drone in Jabrayil, Azerbaijan (Press Service, Republic of Azerbaijan)