فصلنامه روابط خارجی
پیاپی 37 (بهار 1397)

US foreign policy toward Iran after the Islamic Revolution has had an adversarial approach and has been under the influence of centers of power against the normalization of ties between the two countries. Pro-Israel lobbies, without doubt, play an important role in adversely affecting US-Iran relations. Yet, Arab lobbies supported by some countries in the Middle East try to intensify the hostility between the US and Iran. The main question this paper tries to answer is “How Arab lobbies influence US foreign policy against Iran?” It’s assumed that portraying Iran’s power to be destructive to Middle East stability in order to intensify Iran-phobia and influence US foreign policy against Iran is the strategy these lobbies pursue. Arab lobbies have partly succeeded in achieving their goals, but the development in the Middle East and the future of energy (especially oil) cause the long-term outlook of these lobbies to be unclear. Using descriptive-interpretive this paper tries to analyze the main components in Arab lobbying and the reasons for the weakening of their role based on current developments and strategic foresight.

The military- industrial complexes in the West are accustomed to the benefits of selling advanced weapons to the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf. The western statesmen constantly call Iran a threat to the security of the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf and project a horrifying image of Iran underlining its nuclear program. This leads to the flow of capitals to the accounts of the owners of the western military – industrial complexes. The question here is what is the relation between the iranophobia project and the interests of the western industrial – military complexes in the Persian Gulf? The answer to this question is that the military – security complexes are after maximization of their trade benefits through expansion of their weapons sales to the Persian Gulf countries and intensifying the endless arms races in the region. The methodology in this research is analytical – descriptive and the data are gathered using archival resources.

Human rights is a norm adopted by the European Union that should be observed by the third parties with whom the union shall expand relations. This has made human rights a precondition for deepening of relations with Iran and particularly signing the TCA. In other words the European Union has tried to build a direct link between human rights observation and increase of trade relations with Iran. This paper studies such a link in three eras of Hashemi Rafsanjani, Khatami and Ahmadinejad. The main question is what imprint human rights has left on the trade relations between Iran and the European Union. Having the data of the volume of trade between the two parties in the three mentioned historical eras, the hypothesis is that for European Union human rights is an instrument serving political purposes with respect to Iran. In other words, unlike what the European Union claims human rights has no direct link with the trade relations with Iran. The increase in the volume of such relations in times of the alleged human rights violations in Iran is an indication to that.

The United Nations Security Council is the most powerful international institute ever. The existence and power of this council as stipulated in the charter of the United Nations is the guarantor of the survival of the international community. This institute which is the most political body of the United Nations may under political considerations issue resolutions in violation of the international law. For some time now, the missile program of Iran has turned into a foreign policy challenge addressed by some of the Security Council’s resolutions and discussed in the Iran and the great powers negotiations over the nuclear issue. This paper studies the legitimacy of the Iran’s missile program in the backdrop of the United Nations Security Council resolutions using archival resources as well as interviews with the high ranking officials in the ministry of foreign affairs and the members of the nuclear negations team. In the first part, the credibility of the seventh chapter of the United Nations charter would be critiqued and in the second part the articles related to the nuclear activities within the 2231 resolution would be studies and concluded that this resolution confines Iran’s nuclear activities.

This paper studies the competition between China and the United States in the eastern and southern flanks of the China Sea and concentrates on the question of what factors have exacerbated tensions between China and the United States in the eastern and southern seas. In response I hypothesize that the rise in china’s sea power has challenged the United States marine preponderance which has resulted in the increase in the two countries tensions. The thesis is tested using Gilpin’s neorealist theory of hegemonic stability. The author discusses that the rise in china’s economic growth has increased this country’s marine power, challenging the United States sea superiority around the sea of china. The author also discusses that since the economic growth is a result of innovation in technology, the rise in power of the marginal states in the periphery of the international system is tied to their replication of industrial know-hows in the developed countries. This explains why china’s success in replication has translated to the rise in its wealth and power.

In this paper the main factors constituting China’s foreign policy regarding the Middle East from 2008 to 2017 is studied. China’s strategic position in the previous decades is impacted by its growth and military and diplomatic capability and has transformed its foreign policy in different areas. One region redefined in the previous years is the Middle East. China gives considerable significance to the Middle East so that Beijing pursues strategic interests in this region in economic and security domains. The paper seeks to answer this question that what are the factors contributing to gradual transformation in Chinese Middle Eastern policy from 2008 to 2017 The author argues that the gradual decline of the strategic importance of the Middle East for the United States and the increasing need of China to fossil fuels are among the major factors of gradual transformation of Chinese Middle Eastern policy from non – intervention to expansion of economic and political interactions.