Expansion of NATO territory in the Baltic, Black Sea and Eastern Europe and its consequences for the Islamic Republic of Iran

After the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949, while aiming to keep the Russians second-guessing, the Americans deeply involved and the Germans neutral, NATO has so far shifted its security priorities twice. The first shift in priority came in 1999 when Warsaw Pact’s priority shifted to identifying new threats and cooperation and association with former enemies, and the second time in 2010 resulting in its concurrent accompaniment by the priorities of collective defense, crisis management, and common security. The recent shift led to the establishment of the third generation of NATO, which leads the organization more than before to attend outside its traditional region. By providing the most comprehensive interpretation of its existence, NATO is present in all parts of the world and engages in various military, security, political, social, cultural, environmental, scientific, and even sports activities with various political units. This trans-geographical presence of NATO, which is accompanied by the creation of formal organizational structures, has led the organization to be directly and indirectly present at all borders of Islamic Republic of Iran; a presence that has irreparable effects on national security and the regional role of Islamic Republic of Iran; not only in the short term but in the future as well. Accordingly, the subject matter of this article is to examine the quality in which the boundaries of this organization are expanding in the geopolitical regions in the far north of Islamic Republic of Iran; where the authors are trying to proceed using the concept of geopolitical territoriality. The main question of the research is “How is NATO expanding their territory in the Baltic region, Black Sea, and Eastern Europe?” Areas in which post-soviet union power vacuum, enormous sources of energy, and racial and ethnic diversity have gained them double-fold significance. In response to the present question, the authors believe that "NATO is trying to preserve and extend the sovereignty of liberal values of democracy and the free market as the driving force of contemporary global order by utilizing the strategies of expanding official political boundaries, expanding unofficial political boundaries, humanitarian missions, defense and security cooperation and the expansion of organizational and administrative offices; further expand its territory through its presence in the Black Sea, Russia and the geopolitical regions of the Baltic Sea and Eastern Europe in the far north of Islamic Republic of Iran.” It is noteworthy to mention regarding the research background, that despite a general lack of geopolitical studies on NATO in domestic literature; a lack of research and studies focusing on its new approaches based on different regions and countries is strongly felt.

The type of research is fundamental. The method of data collection is library resources and documentary research while the data analysis method is deductive reasoning and the data evaluation approach is based on critical rationality.

In a geopolitical clarification, NATO is expanding its territory; in other words, NATO is trying to expand its geographical value outside the region to preserve and expand the sovereignty of liberal values of democracy and the free market; as the driving force behind the contemporary global order and this means territoriality. Accordingly, the review of NATO's documents and performance and its leaders’ speeches show that they have adopted approaches to this end, which include: A: Expansion of official political boundaries B: Expansion of participatory political boundaries C: Defense and security cooperation D: Expansion of organizational and administrative offices Conclusion The planning and operation of NATO's territorialization and territoriality projects as a military-security institution that pursues the protection of liberal values of democracy and the free market, which is in clear contradiction to the slogans and objectives of the Islamic Revolution of Islamic Republic of Iran; communicates the fact that these agendas are manifestly in conflict with the discourse of the Islamic Republic as well as the geopolitical territorialization of our country. It is evident that neighboring this organization, which is not only present on the northern borders of Islamic Republic of Iran, but also on the eastern, southern and western borders, has its consequences for Islamic Republic of Iran's national security. Given these interpretations, the expansion of NATO's sphere of influence in the geopolitical areas of Russia, the Baltic region, the Black Sea and Eastern Europe, although above-mentioned areas do not share a common border with our country, even so, our country’s national security faces serious challenges in different dimensions. - Political consequences - Trade and economic consequences - Military and security implications - Cultural and social consequences Finally, the authors recommend that attention be paid to the national security of the country so that the pertinent authorities show more attention and supervision to the consequences of the organization's geopolitical territorialization and therefore the following operational proposals are presented in this regard: - Bilateral and multilateral talks with NATO official and unofficial members located on the northern borders of Islamic Republic of Iran on the subject of “The damages of NATO’s expansive territorialization to the national security of Islamic Republic of Iran and the challenges lying ahead of the bilateral or multilateral relations”; - Strengthening our security and intelligence presence in the countries of the northern region of Islamic Republic of Iran, in which NATO is active, with the aim of monitoring and observing the activities of this organization; - Holding specialized and international conferences on the issue of the damages of NATO's territorialization in the northern borders of Islamic Republic of Iran and its effect on increasing in the crises of Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Caspian region, and further efforts to introduce NATO and its multiple scientific, cultural, political, economical, military, social and artistic elements in Islamic Republic of Iran's scientific and academic literature has been seriously neglected.