e years 1957 to 1960 were one of the most critical periods of the contemporary history of
Iran from the viewpoint of its foreign relations. is is largely due to the fact that this period
coincided with the attempts of other countries to increase their dominance over Iran. During
this period, Iran was struggling with countries like the Soviet Union, Iraq, Egypt and
the United States in its foreign relationships. Iran’s relations with the Soviet Union, Iraq and
Egypt were similar to each other, involving uctuations, con icts, strains and even complete
breaks. During these years, a negative aspect of Iran’s foreign policy was the wide gap created
in relations between Iran and Arab countries including Egypt. Mohammad Reza Shah’s foreign
policy in the region, and his relations with Israel, had resulted in this wide gap and had caused
some Arab countries to openly express their dissatisfaction. ese relations were most strained
during the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt. At the same time, Iran had very close
relations with the U.S. which led to Iran’s increased dependency on the U.S.
e aim of the present research is to study the role of Iran’s foreign ministers in Iran’s relations
with the other countries which aimed to dominate Iran or maintain ties with it during 1957-
1960, and the condition of Iran’s foreign policy in this period. e -ndings of this research
show that the foreign ministers did not have an e ective role in Iran’s foreign policy because
the main policymaker was Mohammad Reza Shah himself, and the main function of his foreign
policies was to protect his government, not the national interest
