The Necessity of a Shift in Geographical Focus in Iran's Foreign Policy

Abstract

. It can be claimed that no other country in the world possesses such a geopolitical situation. Although such a situation provides the country with a set of opportunities, any wrong decision-making, apart from national and international realities, in choosing the focus of policies and foreign relations activities may turn it into a ground for crisis and continued failure for Iran. This paper seeks to trace the roots of problems in Iran's external relations from the perspective of its geographical focus and to make suggestions for rectifying it. Considering political, economic and geopolitical changes in recent years on the regional and world scales, the author believes that change in the regional focus of Iran's foreign relations from the west (i.e. the Arab Middle East) to the east in both the Indian Subcontinent and Central Asia not only will help open the deadlocks in foreign policy.

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