Energy Diplomacy and National Interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Benefiting from economic potentials as well as national energy and in the framework of energy diplomacy, different states have proceeded a new strategy of economic growth and development and provision of their national interests and security in their own foreign policy. However, the inefficiency and incapability in the economic trends of the foreign policy of I.R.I have given rise to the fact that the academic and university literature of Iran don’t pay much attention to the relation of energy sector and foreign policy. Explaining the pathology of the relation of the two fields of foreign policy and energy, the present article seeks to reveal the significance of these two sectors and that of creating functions used to keep individual natures up to now. Thus for Iran as a country possessing huge oil and gas resources within and beyond its national borders, energy diplomacy is considered as a means towards maximizing achievements in the world politico economic system. However, economic attitude has often been of less significance comparing to political considerations in the foreign policy of Iran. Thus the predominance of commercial approach in the field of energy is the result of failure to have a long - run and strategic look to the issues of energy sector in the foreign approach of energy diplomacy. This fact explains that creation of development in the general conditions of regional as well as international actors necessitates long – run strategies in different sectors including foreign policy. Offering a definition for energy diplomacy and explaining its domain, the present article deals with the relation of energy diplomacy with national interests and goals of I.R.I, and the obstacles of I.R.I toward achieving the new pattern.