Iran’s role as a regional power is more significant than many in the West may realise. The country lies between Central Asia/the Caucasus and the Gulf region on the one hand, and, on the other, between the Mediterranean/Levant region and South Asia. Many of these areas are of increasing strategic importance. This book explores Iran’s role as a regional power, focusing on relations with South Caucasus countries - Azerbaijan and Armenia. It outlines the historical context, including Persia’s rule of these countries before the nineteenth century, and discusses Iran’s approach to foreign and regional policy and how both internal and international factors shape these policies. The book assesses Iran–Azerbaijan and Iran–Armenia bilateral relations to demonstrate how those policies translate in Iran's regional and bilateral relations. The book concludes by considering how Iran's relations in the region are likely to develop in the future.

A comprehensive exploration of postrevolution Iranian foreign policy analyzes the country's relations with key nations and regions and the impact of both Iran's domestic situation and the developing global system. Iran's Foreign Policy in the Post-Soviet Era: Resisting the New International Order provides the first truly comprehensive, in-depth survey of Iranian foreign policy, issue by issue and country by country, since the Islamic Revolution. To help readers understand both the what and the why of Iran's role in the world and formulate useful responses to that role, the author provides a detailed analysis of Iranian foreign policy in all its dimensions. The first part of the book places Iranian actions, particularly its relations with the United States and other key players, within the context of the emerging international system, while also showing how domestic developments impact foreign policy. The second part surveys Iranian relations with specific actors, notably the United States and Russia, and with key regions, including Europe, Central Asia, the Arab world, Latin America, and Africa. Providing an antidote to existing preconceptions, this incisive analysis lays an analytically sound basis for shaping policies toward Iran—policies with potentially high payoff in terms of regional security and stability.

The book deals with President Hassan Rouhani’s conceptual approach to foreign policy. It discusses the main pillars of thinking underpinning Rouhani’s administration and the school of thought associated with it, with a focus on issues pertaining to development as well as international relations. The signature of the “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action” in 2015 showed the Iranian commitment towards the international requests on guarantees and transparency on its nuclear enrichment program. The book analyses the actual impact of the nuclear deal on the Gulf regional politics, with especial emphasis on the Iran-Saudi Arabia balance of power and the internal implications at political and economic level. It will assess the success or failure of the nuclear deal JCPOA as a foreign policy tool and it impact for Iran and the region. The book also analyses Iran’s relations with other gulf Arab states, Latin America, Africa and its ‘war on terror’ along with its allies Syria and Iraq.

US Foreign Policy and Iran is a study of US foreign policy decision-making in relation to Iran and its implications for Middle Eastern relations. It offers a new assessment of US-Iranian relations by exploring the rationale, effectiveness and consequences of American policy towards Iran from the aftermath of the 1979 Iranian Revolution to the present day. As a key country in a turbulent region and the recipient of some of the most inconsistent treatment meted out during or after the Cold War, Iran has been both one of America's closest allies and an 'axis of evil' or 'rogue' state, targeted by covert action and contained by sanctions, diplomatic isolation and the threat of overt action. Moreover, since the attacks of 11 September 2001, Iran has played a significant role in the war on terror while also incurring American wrath for its links to international terror and its alleged pursuit of a nuclear weapons programme. US Foreign Policy and Iran will be of interest to students of US foreign policy, Iran, Middle Eastern Politics and international security in general Donette Murray is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Defence and International Affairs at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. She was awarded a PhD in International History by the University of Ulster in 1997.

This book is a comprehensive analysis of the domestic and foreign politics of Iran, focusing on its complex nature from political, social and cultural perspectives. It has adopted a multidisciplinary approach, combining comparative politics and intellectual and modern history with international relations. It analyses the institutional structure of the Islamic Republic, the main political and social actors and alliances, as well as Iranian opposition forces both inside and outside the country. The book tries to simplify the seemingly intractable complexity of the Islamic Republic by demystifying it and using political science methods to prove that it is a peculiar hybrid regime.

Written for scholars and practitioners puzzled by Iran's foreign policy choices, this book argues that Iran's foreign policy behavior is best understood in the context of the regime's foreign policy ideology, which is rooted in a conception of Iran as a nation changed by the 1979 Revolution and an example to other nations in a changing world.

Saudi Arabia and Iran have established themselves as the two regional heavyweights in one of the world’s most tumultuous but critically significant regions. The two countries compete on many fronts, including regional politics, oil prices, and for leadership of the Islamic world, a competition with undeniable repercussions for the Greater Middle East and for the world. Some observers have gone so far as to claim that virtually everything that happens in this area of the world can be viewed as part of the Saudi-Iranian power struggle. With increasing importance of the region as the dominant supplier of world energy and the birthplace of Islamic militant groups, the consequences of not understanding Saudi-Iranian rivalry in the region have never been more serious. A range of internal and external explanatory factors explains the ups and downs of Saudi-Iranian relations since the 1990s. This book captures this complexity by drawing on multicausal explanations through multiple levels of interdisciplinary analysis. This is the first book on the subject that is co-authored by one author from Saudi Arabia and one from Iran. This collaboration allowed the authors to make the best use of Persian and Arabic sources, generating a locally meaningful account of the two countries’ relationship. As Iranian and Saudi nationals, they encountered less difficulty in gaining access to research participants, building rapport and conducting interviews with Iranian and Saudi scholars and informants.