Opportunities and Challenges of Iran's Relations with the Balkan Region: Albania as a case study

Today, a part of the international equations revolves around soft power. Based on this power method, the first condition is to have an active diplomacy and to strengthen relations, accurate knowledge of standard capacities, and potential challenges in the game environment. In this regard, the country that has always been the focus of attention of various actors in terms of geopolitics is Albania. As the Islamic Republic of Iran has started diplomatic relations with this country not so long ago, however, for various reasons, this relationship has had many ups and downs. Based on this, the current research through a descriptive-analytical method and citing to reliable library sources tries to answer the question that what are the most important opportunities and challenges of the Islamic Republic of Iran for a stable relationship with Albania? The findings show that the presence of Alawites, joint cultural events, and the influence of the Persian language and literature are part of the cultural catalysts of Iran to strengthen relations with Albania. Challenges such as a lack of priority of Iran in Albania foreign affairs, the establishment of the MEK there, the centrality of secularism in the eyes of the Albanian elite and people, etc., have led to the common cultural capacities being forgotten. therefore, it seems that the best version to strengthen the equations with this country is to use catalysts with a focus on cultural diplomacy.