نشریه غرب آسیا
سال دوم شماره 2 (پیاپی 5، تابستان 1403)

 The geopolitical relations of the Middle East turned the Eastern Mediterranean into one of the important energy regions after the discovery of huge gas reserves in the exclusive economic zones of Israel, Cyprus and Egypt. The formation of the tripartite alliance between those countries and then the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Gas Forum between exporting and consuming countries caused not only regional energy cooperation, but also the economic and political stability of the challenging region of the Middle East despite the many lines of conflict to be discussed in political circles. And become security. Major developments in regional energy after the discovery of gas in the Eastern Mediterranean are affected by Israel's gas developments. This article, by studying energy security from the perspective of the Copenhagen school, with a descriptive-analytical method of Eastern Mediterranean gas developments, seeks to answer the question that, how has Israel developed its regional security in the Eastern Mediterranean by leveraging gas? And what is its role on Iran's energy security equations? And the proposed hypothesis is that, the discovery of gas in Israel has affected the development of the economic, political and security relations of the Eastern Mediterranean countries and then the process of the economic, political and security formations of the Middle East region.

American foreign policy towards Israel during the Biden era is affected by various factors. On the one hand, the strategic and macro alliance of these two actors has continued, and events such as October 7 and confronting Iran's threats have given it more depth. On the other hand, the macro policy of the United States in the field of reducing commitments and conflicts in the Middle East and the offshore balance policy has also affected the relations between the United States and Israel and in general the relations between actors in the Middle East. The main question of this research is "How has Biden's foreign policy approach towards the Middle East and especially Israel affected Iran's national security?" The findings of the research indicate that "by adopting the offshore balancing approach in the Middle East, Biden has sought to increase the role of Israel as well as proxy groups aligned with Tehran's interests in the Middle East." This policy has provided the basis for the expansion of tension and conflict between Iran and Israel. Also, there is a connection between America's support policy towards Israel and the threat to Iran's security environment, and the alliance of Arab countries and Israel within the framework of the Abraham Pact, the October 7 incident and the spread of conflict in the Middle East region have all affected Iran's national security. In this research, a descriptive analytical method is used and the method of collecting information is a library.

The Zangezur Corridor, connecting the self-governing Republic of Nakhchivan to the mainland of the Republic of Azerbaijan, aims to disrupt the geopolitical balance in the Caucasus region in favor of Azerbaijan and Turkey, while placing Armenia and Iran under geopolitical pressure and threats. Various speculations exist regarding the construction methods, transit points, and the location of this corridor, leading to interventions by Russia, France, and at times, the United States. The potential exploitation of this corridor is expected to bring about significant transformations in both regional and transregional relations, possibly leading to the emergence of new crises and shifts in alignment among regional countries, ultimately reshaping the entire face of the region. This paper explores the factors influencing the involvement of different actors in this project, the interests they seek to gain from their interventions, and the impact the Zangezur Corridor has on the geopolitical dynamics of the region and the relationships between regional countries.The research method employed in this article is the Causal research method. Findings indicate that the strategic position of the Caucasus, its proximity to Russia, and the normative ties of regional countries with Azerbaijan and Armenia have prompted both regional and transregional actors to engage in this issue to pursue their respective interests and leverage their capabilities.

Nowadays, the new approaches of countries in the economic diplomacy scene are international bilateral or multilateral cooperation. With 15 neighboring countries, the Islamic Republic of Iran has valuable opportunities to promote economic diplomacy. One of these neighbors is Bahrain. The countries of Bahrain and Iran have a significant capacity for economic interactions and trade exchanges with each other due to their special geostrategic features in the Persian Gulf region. This is despite the fact that in recent decades, due to political differences between Manama and Tehran, these capacities were neglected. According to the agreement between Riyadh and Tehran in the winter of 1401 to re-establish political and economic relations, the officials of Manama and Tehran also met in the spring of 1402 to resolve differences and re-establish relations, which led to the decision to reopen the embassies of the two countries. Therefore, the authors of the present study, who are from Iran and Bahrain, while collecting the experiences of businessmen and economic activists of the two countries until reaching the saturation of information, by using the SWOT technique known as "Swat", seek to answer the question that "Strengthening strategies What is the economic cooperation between Iran and Bahrain? are The authors have written this research from the approach of explaining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats with the aim of presenting the economic cooperation strategies of the two countries. The hypothesis of the research is that in order to strengthen their economic cooperation, the two mentioned countries should take opposite measures: examining competitive advantages in all areas, establishing a joint chamber of commerce, implementing the 80s commercial cooperation agreement, holding joint exhibitions, starting knowledge-based economic cooperation, Strengthening commonalities and reducing differences, focusing on commercial, service and construction activities and developing the interaction of private sectors.

Afghanistan experienced a new experience of state-building from 2001-2021. During this period, the Afghan government, with its international and mainly Western partners, tried to establish a liberal state in Afghanistan. Although there were high hopes for the formation of a modern state from 2001-2003, since 2003, disappointment in the efficiency of the state has slowly emerged; because since 2003, insecurity has been intensifying. Some have considered the reason for insecurity to be the inability of political leaders to manage the country; some have pointed to the negative role of neighbors; and others have spoken of the Great Game. The purpose of the current article is to explain this issue. Therefore, the main question in this research is how has the competition between Russia and the United States in the three dimensions of politics, military-security, and economy affected the security of Afghanistan? The research hypothesis is that these two powers, considering the differences over the US presence in Afghanistan, the issue of the Taliban and Afghan peace, the transfer of energy through Afghanistan, and American democratization, have pursued a confrontational policy in Afghanistan, which has led to a decrease in security in Afghanistan. This article, using a qualitative method and library data, has reached the conclusion that the competition between Russia and the US in Afghanistan in the three aforementioned areas has caused both countries to seek to balance and limit each other's influence and pursue a complex multi-level game in Afghanistan. This has damaged the country's relative security and rendered peace talks fruitless. Because the alignment of interests of domestic groups (whether political parties, part of the government, or the Taliban) with these two countries has complicated security policymaking and measures to ensure security.