Trump tells Europe to \u2018get your own oil\u2019 as Iran conflict fuels shortages<\/a><\/h4>\nPresident Trump intensifies pressure on Iran with joint US-Israel strikes, releasing new video of attacks on nuclear sites in Isfahan. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo states the Iranian regime’s behavior must change. FBI Detroit Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Runyan reveals the Michigan synagogue attack on March 12 was Hezbollah-inspired, raising domestic terror concerns amid DHS funding disputes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nNEW<\/span>You can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\nWith Iran<\/a> increasingly isolated among its Gulf neighbors, recent reports say Tehran has been deepening its ties in the South Caucasus with the Republic of Georgia.<\/p>\nThe former Soviet republic, which was until recently seen as an aspiring European Union and potential NATO member candidate, has slowly moved closer to Tehran.<\/p>\n
“Iran has built a vast influence infrastructure in Georgia, which includes entities sanctioned by the U.S. government for links to extremism and viewed in Washington as fronts for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” Giorgi Kandelaki, former member of the Georgian Parliament, told Fox News Digital.\u00a0<\/p>\n
IRAN BACKLASH FORCES GULF ALLIES TOWARD WASHINGTON AS REGIONAL TENSIONS RISE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n![\"Anti-war](\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1200\/675\/iran-protest-flag.jpg?ve=1&tl=1\")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n\n\nAn anti-war activist holds an Iranian flag during a march organized by Stop the War Coalition, calling for an end to hostilities amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in London, Britain, March 7, 2026.<\/span> (Jack Taylor\/Reuters)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nKandelaki, co-author of a recent report with the Hudson Institute titled Georgia\u2019s Iranian Turn<\/a>: Tehran\u2019s Rapid Expansion of Influence in a Once-Committed U.S. Ally, said that Tbilisi\u2019s turn toward Iran is bad for Georgians but also bad for U.S. interests in the region.<\/p>\n“Georgia has an overwhelmingly pro-U.S. public opinion committed to Western values with it also being viewed as a traditional U.S. ally in Washington. This reality presents a terrible precedent and reversing this trajectory is in the interest of both the U.S. but also Georgian society,” he added.<\/p>\n
While Georgia has remained diplomatically neutral, the Hudson report details the budding ties between the two countries and how Iran uses Georgia as a network for intelligence infrastructure, penetrating Georgia\u2019s religious, educational and cultural institutions to impact society.<\/p>\n
BLOODY NYC KHAMENEI VIGIL REVEALS ANTI-US PROTEST NETWORK LINKED TO IRAN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n![\"Supporters](\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1200\/675\/ap24297647872928-scaled.jpg?ve=1&tl=1\")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n\n\nSupporters of the ruling Georgian Dream party attend a rally in the center of Tbilisi, Georgia, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024.<\/span> (Shakh Aivazov\/AP)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAs far back as 2007, Iran opened the Georgian branch of Al-Mustafa University, <\/a>which is considered one of Iran\u2019s main arms for the dissemination of Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s ideology abroad, according to United Against a Nuclear Iran.<\/p>\nThe U.S. Treasury Department stated in 2020 that Iran\u2019s IRGC-Quds Force uses Al-Mustafa University in Georgia as an international recruitment network for Iran and acts as a conduit for the Islamic Republic\u2019s ideological and security interests.<\/p>\n
“Al-Mustafa has facilitated unwitting tourists from Western countries to come to Iran, from whom IRGC-Qud’s Force members sought to collect intelligence,” the Treasury Department said. The Treasury Department also said that the university facilitated student exchanges with foreign universities to develop intelligence sources.<\/p>\n
RUSSIA ALLEGEDLY SHARING SATELLITE INTELLIGENCE ON US BASES WITH IRAN, WORLD LEADER CLAIMS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n![\"Khamenei](\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1200\/675\/iran-embassy-tiblisi.jpg?ve=1&tl=1\")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n\n\nA portrait of the late Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sits at the entrance to the Iranian embassy in Tbilisi on March 6, 2026.\u00a0<\/span> (Vano Shlamov \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nGEORGIAN DEMONSTRATORS WATCH IRAN CLOSELY AS THEIR OWN PROTESTS GRIND ON<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nA report from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies estimated the university\u2019s annual budget is $100 million and has trained tens of thousands of emissaries across the world who spread Iran\u2019s revolutionary ideology.<\/p>\n
Iran has utilized sympathetic Georgians to commit international crimes to advance its domestic agenda.<\/p>\n
While no links have ever been made with the Tbilisi government, a Georgian national, Agil Aslanov, who had ties to organized crime, was reportedly recruited by the Quds Forces to assassinate a prominent Jewish leader in Azerbaijan in 2022. In another case in 2025, Georgian national Polad Omarov<\/a> was indicted in federal court in New York City and sentenced to 25 years in prison for attempting to assassinate prominent Iranian activist Masih Alinejad, a vocal critic of the Islamic Republic\u2019s use of violence against peaceful protesters.<\/p>\nGeorgia once made significant inroads to foster political and security ties with the United States following the Rose Revolution in 2003, becoming a bedrock of regional security in the Black Sea region. After decades of Soviet rule, Georgia aligned itself with the United States, contributing to missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and eventually signed a Strategic Partnership Charter with the United States in 2009.<\/p>\n
\n![\"Georgian](\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1200\/675\/ap24301592562192-scaled.jpg?ve=1&tl=1\")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n\n\nIn this photo taken from video released by Georgian Dream Party on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze addresses after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia.<\/span> (Georgian Dream Party\/AP)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nTbilisi’s ties with Tehran have been expanded under the pro-Russia Georgian Dream party that took power in 2012. That bond, according to analysts, has tightened after Georgia\u2019s pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili finished her six-year term in office in 2024 and was replaced by Mikheil Kavelashvili, who was chosen as her successor by a newly established electoral college reportedly dominated by Georgian Dream supporters.<\/p>\n
INSIDE IRAN\u2019S MILITARY: MISSILES, MILITIAS AND A FORCE BUILT FOR SURVIVAL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nKavelashvili\u2019s installment followed parliamentary elections in Oct. 2024 marred by some irregularities, according to the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi<\/a>, in which the Georgian Dream declared victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n![\"Billboard](\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1200\/675\/iran-leaders-poster-tehran-iran.jpg?ve=1&tl=1\")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n\n\nA billboard depicting Iran’s supreme leaders since 1979: (L to R) Ayatollahs Ruhollah Khomeini (until 1989), Ali Khamenei (until 2026), and Mojtaba Khamenei (incumbent) is displayed above a highway in Tehran on March 10, 2026. Iran marked the appointment of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei to replace his father as its supreme leader on March 9, 2026.<\/span> (AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nLeadership ties between both countries have steadily grown since the Georgian Dream’s disputed 2024 parliamentary victory.<\/p>\n
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze visited Iran in May 2024 for the funeral of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter accident, and again in July to attend the inauguration of Iran\u2019s current president, Masoud Pezeshkian where Iranian news agencies reported both leaders praised the growing relationship between the two countries.<\/p>\n
WHO ACTUALLY RUNS IRAN RIGHT NOW? THE KEY POWER PLAYERS AS TRUMP CLAIMS TALKS TO ‘TOP’ OFFICIAL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nMany Georgian companies are also importing oil and petroleum products from Iran<\/a>, a key economic lifeline for the regime and its regional war efforts, according to Georgian NGO Civic IDEA<\/a>. In 2024, Iranian oil export revenue was approximately $43 billion, which accounts for roughly 57% of Iran\u2019s total export revenue.<\/p>\n\n![\"Iranian](\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1200\/675\/iran-attack.jpg?ve=1&tl=1\")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n\n\nIranian flags fly as fire and smoke from an Israeli attack on Sharan Oil depot rise, following Israeli strikes on Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 15, 2025.<\/span> (Majid Asgaripour\/WANA)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAccording to Civic IDEA, between 2022 and 2025, 72 companies registered in Georgia imported Iranian oil and petroleum, including eight inked to donors of the ruling Georgian Dream party, boosting Iran\u2019s revenue stream even while heavily sanctioned by Western nations.<\/p>\n
“Georgia has become Iran\u2019s primary sanctions-evasion hub \u2026funneling hard currency back to Tehran\u2019s war machine and the IRGC through specific schemes in oil imports,” Nicholas Chkhaidze, national security and strategic communications analyst based in Tbilisi, told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n
NEW<\/span>You can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n With Iran<\/a> increasingly isolated among its Gulf neighbors, recent reports say Tehran has been deepening its ties in the South Caucasus with the Republic of Georgia.<\/p>\n The former Soviet republic, which was until recently seen as an aspiring European Union and potential NATO member candidate, has slowly moved closer to Tehran.<\/p>\n “Iran has built a vast influence infrastructure in Georgia, which includes entities sanctioned by the U.S. government for links to extremism and viewed in Washington as fronts for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” Giorgi Kandelaki, former member of the Georgian Parliament, told Fox News Digital.\u00a0<\/p>\n IRAN BACKLASH FORCES GULF ALLIES TOWARD WASHINGTON AS REGIONAL TENSIONS RISE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n An anti-war activist holds an Iranian flag during a march organized by Stop the War Coalition, calling for an end to hostilities amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in London, Britain, March 7, 2026.<\/span> (Jack Taylor\/Reuters)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Kandelaki, co-author of a recent report with the Hudson Institute titled Georgia\u2019s Iranian Turn<\/a>: Tehran\u2019s Rapid Expansion of Influence in a Once-Committed U.S. Ally, said that Tbilisi\u2019s turn toward Iran is bad for Georgians but also bad for U.S. interests in the region.<\/p>\n “Georgia has an overwhelmingly pro-U.S. public opinion committed to Western values with it also being viewed as a traditional U.S. ally in Washington. This reality presents a terrible precedent and reversing this trajectory is in the interest of both the U.S. but also Georgian society,” he added.<\/p>\n While Georgia has remained diplomatically neutral, the Hudson report details the budding ties between the two countries and how Iran uses Georgia as a network for intelligence infrastructure, penetrating Georgia\u2019s religious, educational and cultural institutions to impact society.<\/p>\n BLOODY NYC KHAMENEI VIGIL REVEALS ANTI-US PROTEST NETWORK LINKED TO IRAN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Supporters of the ruling Georgian Dream party attend a rally in the center of Tbilisi, Georgia, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024.<\/span> (Shakh Aivazov\/AP)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n As far back as 2007, Iran opened the Georgian branch of Al-Mustafa University, <\/a>which is considered one of Iran\u2019s main arms for the dissemination of Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s ideology abroad, according to United Against a Nuclear Iran.<\/p>\n The U.S. Treasury Department stated in 2020 that Iran\u2019s IRGC-Quds Force uses Al-Mustafa University in Georgia as an international recruitment network for Iran and acts as a conduit for the Islamic Republic\u2019s ideological and security interests.<\/p>\n “Al-Mustafa has facilitated unwitting tourists from Western countries to come to Iran, from whom IRGC-Qud’s Force members sought to collect intelligence,” the Treasury Department said. The Treasury Department also said that the university facilitated student exchanges with foreign universities to develop intelligence sources.<\/p>\n RUSSIA ALLEGEDLY SHARING SATELLITE INTELLIGENCE ON US BASES WITH IRAN, WORLD LEADER CLAIMS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n A portrait of the late Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sits at the entrance to the Iranian embassy in Tbilisi on March 6, 2026.\u00a0<\/span> (Vano Shlamov \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n GEORGIAN DEMONSTRATORS WATCH IRAN CLOSELY AS THEIR OWN PROTESTS GRIND ON<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n A report from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies estimated the university\u2019s annual budget is $100 million and has trained tens of thousands of emissaries across the world who spread Iran\u2019s revolutionary ideology.<\/p>\n Iran has utilized sympathetic Georgians to commit international crimes to advance its domestic agenda.<\/p>\n While no links have ever been made with the Tbilisi government, a Georgian national, Agil Aslanov, who had ties to organized crime, was reportedly recruited by the Quds Forces to assassinate a prominent Jewish leader in Azerbaijan in 2022. In another case in 2025, Georgian national Polad Omarov<\/a> was indicted in federal court in New York City and sentenced to 25 years in prison for attempting to assassinate prominent Iranian activist Masih Alinejad, a vocal critic of the Islamic Republic\u2019s use of violence against peaceful protesters.<\/p>\n Georgia once made significant inroads to foster political and security ties with the United States following the Rose Revolution in 2003, becoming a bedrock of regional security in the Black Sea region. After decades of Soviet rule, Georgia aligned itself with the United States, contributing to missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and eventually signed a Strategic Partnership Charter with the United States in 2009.<\/p>\n In this photo taken from video released by Georgian Dream Party on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze addresses after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia.<\/span> (Georgian Dream Party\/AP)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Tbilisi’s ties with Tehran have been expanded under the pro-Russia Georgian Dream party that took power in 2012. That bond, according to analysts, has tightened after Georgia\u2019s pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili finished her six-year term in office in 2024 and was replaced by Mikheil Kavelashvili, who was chosen as her successor by a newly established electoral college reportedly dominated by Georgian Dream supporters.<\/p>\n INSIDE IRAN\u2019S MILITARY: MISSILES, MILITIAS AND A FORCE BUILT FOR SURVIVAL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Kavelashvili\u2019s installment followed parliamentary elections in Oct. 2024 marred by some irregularities, according to the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi<\/a>, in which the Georgian Dream declared victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n A billboard depicting Iran’s supreme leaders since 1979: (L to R) Ayatollahs Ruhollah Khomeini (until 1989), Ali Khamenei (until 2026), and Mojtaba Khamenei (incumbent) is displayed above a highway in Tehran on March 10, 2026. Iran marked the appointment of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei to replace his father as its supreme leader on March 9, 2026.<\/span> (AFP via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Leadership ties between both countries have steadily grown since the Georgian Dream’s disputed 2024 parliamentary victory.<\/p>\n Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze visited Iran in May 2024 for the funeral of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter accident, and again in July to attend the inauguration of Iran\u2019s current president, Masoud Pezeshkian where Iranian news agencies reported both leaders praised the growing relationship between the two countries.<\/p>\n WHO ACTUALLY RUNS IRAN RIGHT NOW? THE KEY POWER PLAYERS AS TRUMP CLAIMS TALKS TO ‘TOP’ OFFICIAL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Many Georgian companies are also importing oil and petroleum products from Iran<\/a>, a key economic lifeline for the regime and its regional war efforts, according to Georgian NGO Civic IDEA<\/a>. In 2024, Iranian oil export revenue was approximately $43 billion, which accounts for roughly 57% of Iran\u2019s total export revenue.<\/p>\n Iranian flags fly as fire and smoke from an Israeli attack on Sharan Oil depot rise, following Israeli strikes on Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 15, 2025.<\/span> (Majid Asgaripour\/WANA)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n According to Civic IDEA, between 2022 and 2025, 72 companies registered in Georgia imported Iranian oil and petroleum, including eight inked to donors of the ruling Georgian Dream party, boosting Iran\u2019s revenue stream even while heavily sanctioned by Western nations.<\/p>\n “Georgia has become Iran\u2019s primary sanctions-evasion hub \u2026funneling hard currency back to Tehran\u2019s war machine and the IRGC through specific schemes in oil imports,” Nicholas Chkhaidze, national security and strategic communications analyst based in Tbilisi, told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n