نشریه مطالعات خاورمیانه
سال شانزدهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 57، تابستان 1388)

Despite some political circles predicted the rise of tension between Iran and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf after a change in government in Iran, Iran's efforts at expanding its relations continued. Reviewing the background of relations between the two sides of the Persian Gulf, this paper examines the hypothesis that the interest in keeping the relations on part of the both sides and some unprecedented initiatives by President Ahmadinejad led to the preservation of the overall level of bilateral relations. Although it is usually claimed that Iran's nuclear program and disputer over the three islands have caused certain ambiguities on the expansion of relations, it seems that U.S. regional policies and Israeli attempts are the main obstacles to such expansion. Considering that Persian Gulf security is a function of Iran's relations with the Arab states of the region, both sides need each other in order to keep the region safe and stable, though decreased tension between Iran and the United States is not desirable for some Arab states.

Considering the high volume of arms transactions in the Middle East and reliance upon weapons both conventional and unconventional as the major element of power as well as attempts at renovating and improving weapons, this paper seeks to explore the theoretical origins of overemphasis on weapons. In draws upon recent Middle East statistics and military developments as formally reflected in the websites and publications of research institutions. These statistical data exclude arms smuggling to the Middle East undertaken by informal groups and even the states. The research method is descriptive covering a time span between 2005 and 2008. Given the type of discussions, it seems that realism especially neorealism, which has excluded state centrality as the single actor at the world level, provides adequate explanatory strength in this writing.

Considering that politics is not anything more than a set of decision-making, foreign policy and international politics can be viewed as crystallization of decision-making by the actors of the international system. At this level, decision-making theories evaluate foreign policy by examining the general milieu and parameters of decision-making. This paper draws upon Rosenau's pre-theory model for analyzing the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, for it is a combination of micro- and macro-levels in studying foreign policy. Through this study, it became clear that in four significant decisions made in Iran's foreign policy the variable of international system has consistently played the major role in making of decisions and before the amendment of the constitution in 1989, the individual variable has been the second determining variable. After the constitution was amended, this variable was replaced with the variable of role. Furthermore, bureaucratic and community variables have been at next places.

The tribal fabric and lifestyles are the main characteristics of Iraq's social structure and tribal relationships prevail the country's rural and nomadic life. Given this fact, this article seeks to explore the place and role of nomads and tribes in Iraq's sociopolitical developments in various periods of political life in the country. The main idea includes that nomads have proved important variables influencing Iraq's developments and have gained the attention of domestic and international players in the Iraqi political scene in power equations due to their salient position. In other words, Iraq's tribal and nomadic fabric has persistently acted as a major factor in shaping policies and creating opportunity and challenge in the policy-making by the country's domestic and foreign actors.

Iraq's aggressive foreign policy has frequently been a worrisome factor for its neighboring countries as well as for regional stabilityand security. The invasion of Iraq in 2003 by U.S. forces and its allies and the fall of Saddam Hussein have posed the question whether the period of Iraq's troublesome adventurism has ended. Examining Iraq's determinant geopolitical characteristics according to Peter Huggett's geographical model, the author maintains that the tense geographical factors continue to exist in the Iraqi foreign policy and unless a solution is found for them, the grounds for the rise of tension between Iraq and other states will be unfolded. Hence, the question of security in the Persian Gulf will be constantly overshadowed by such controversies.

Given its huge oil and gas resources and environmental characteristics, the Persian Gulf is one of the most strategically important regions of the world, though at the same time it is exposed to excessive pollution and devastation, too. Considering various reasons for the region's environmental devastation, this paper deals with the impact of wars, warship navigation, expansion of oil fields and construction of artificial islands on human security in the coastal states. Another part of the paper addresses the principles of public international law and opinions of the International Court of Justice concerning international responsibility of states for any damage to the environment. On this basis, the author proposes certain solutions entitled environmental diplomacy among the coastal and other states for the protection of natural resources of the Persian Gulf and human security of regional populations.