Iran: An Unrecognised Regional Power

Abstract

This chapter aims at providing an analysis of current Iranian foreign policy, which—the author argues—is mainly aimed at re-establishing Iran as a major regional power. The chapter analyses the key pillars of President Rouhani’s foreign policy, also exploring how these translate into actual foreign policy initiatives. This is done by analysing how Iran interacts with countries pertaining to its most immediate sphere of influence—the Gulf, Iraq, the Levant, Afghanistan, and Central Asia—but also with external actors acting or having an interest in the region, such as Russia, Turkey, and the European Union. The chapter shows that Tehran’s efforts at re-establishing itself as a regional power—though successful—have incited a counterbalancing effort in most of the countries of the region. Moreover, many of Iran’s new partnerships are mainly transactional, making the building of a new regional order extremely arduous.