The American Control System against Regional Challengers; A Case Study of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Introduction: Containing regional threats in US foreign policy and upstream documents has always been considered one of the most important elements of this Great power foreign policy behavior. In all regional networked systems, identifying and confronting state entities that pose a threat to US foreign policy has been placed on the foreign policy agenda. The Eurasian region is one of the regions where regional and global powers are present. This region is important due to its oil and gas resources as well as regional threats. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States are in strategic competition with each other in this region.
Research question: What does the US strategy against the Islamic Republic of Iran include in the Eurasian security network system?
Research hypothesis: Within the framework of the strategy of containing the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Eurasian region, the United States uses a network approach that includes components such as containing threats based on mass creation and concentration of power and preventing growth in the power cycle.
Methodology and theoretical framework: The research method of this article is analogical modeling. In this method, using the theoretical foundations of international relations, an analytical model is presented and in the following sections, the field application of the proposed model is carried out. The research approach used in this article is the network approach. In this approach, the order and strategic environment in which states interact are considered as a network of communication nodes.
Results and discussion: With the increasing complexity and network nature of the security order in the Eurasian region, the strategy of containing regional threats in US foreign policy has become a network and the Islamic Republic of Iran as a power with a high capacity to expand its influence in this region has been challenged within the framework of the above-mentioned control system. America's foreign policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran after the victory of the Islamic Revolution has been based on perception of threats. In the US foreign policy documents, the Islamic Republic of Iran has always been portrayed as a threat to regional interests and its allies and its containment has been designated as one of the priorities of the US regional policy. By defining its regional identity in the form of a regional power, the Islamic Republic of Iran seeks to play an effective role commensurate with its national capabilities in the region to determine the security order.
 In the Central Asia and the Caucasus region, which encompasses the most important environment and arena of Iran’s strategic behavior, it is considered one of the points of conflict between Iran and the United States. The Eurasian region is one of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s spheres of influence, providing many geoeconomic, geoenergy and geopolitical opportunities to strengthen national capabilities in order to be at the forefront of the regional power cycle. Given the increasing level of complexity of regional interactions and the high degree of permeability against trans-regional powers, the Eurasian region has become a network of interconnected communication nodes that can be categorized into four subject areas: geopolitics, geoeconomics, geoculture and geoenergy. Each subject area is connected to other sub-networks in the form of a sub-network. By manipulating communication nodes in the afore-mentioned subnetworks, it is possible to influence the security order of this region. The optimal security order network of regional and trans-regional units is formulated and reorganized in contrast to the optimal order of competing units.
The presence of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Eurasian security order network has provided this country with a suitable space to strengthen regional cooperation and strengthen national power resources in the fields of hardware and software. The United States, within the framework of a regional control and containment system, seeks to weaken Iran's position in the Eurasian region in order to reduce its regional deterrence. The adaptation of US regional control and containment system to the changing security order of the region is something that has happened in recent years. Containing Iran's network in the Eurasian region requires a complex control system whose principles and components can be identified with respect to US foreign policy documents and its regional behavior.
Conclusion: The American network control system is an environmentally oriented and outward-looking system in which threats are contained and controlled using communication nodes of the regional and global order network at various thematic levels. The network control system consists of two parts: the logical principles that constitute the system and the system components. The logical principles of the network control system are summarized in three principles, based on which the system is designed and operated. The principles of the American network control system are based on three principles, which include a network approach to threats, containing threats and preventing growth in the power cycle. For example containing threats is carried out in the form of policies to create critical mass and concentration of power, which is pursued in the form of strengthening Azerbaijan's military power and escalating border tensions in Aras River. Preventing the growth of the power cycle is also pursued by manipulating communication nodes in the geo-energy and geo-economic layers using regional allies. Placing Iran in a cycle of underdevelopment and depletion of national resources, along with preventing it from achieving regional partneship opportunities are the goals that the United States pursues in the form of regional containment of Iran