A Conceptual Framework for the Study of the Foreign Policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Acknowledging that Iran has been entangled in fundamental systemic forces within the past one or two centuries and foreign policy has been the most salient problem of the country in the contemporary era, this article seeks to formulate a theoretical and conceptual framework as a step toward the resolution of this problem. Its main question is what are the causes and factors determining the Islamic Republic of Iran’s foreign policy and what kind of foreign policy they impose on the country? In the author’s opinion, the coincidence of the characteristics of domestic environment and foreign factors have caused the formation of operational environment as the basis of theorization on Iran’s foreign policy, and the dual defensive and offensive adaptation works well for the explanation of the country’s foreign policy. Thus, part of the writing has been allocated to the study of domestic variables andsystemic variables influent in the formation of operational environment in Iran’s foreign policy and finally a conceptual framework has been offered for Iran’s foreign policy.