نیلوفر باقرنیا

Since the 18th century, the western world has gone through political and economic alterations. Gold has been of economic importance over thousands of years in several civilisations. It gained international economic significance during the 19th century, when several countries officially adopted the Gold Standard. With the world becoming more intertwined, gold has found new importance for economies and investors alike. It has been a safe haven during a time of economic crisis which has been reflected on its price. This paper examines the development of gold in a changing global, political and economic environment. For investors it has become a safe haven during the crisis, but how reliable is gold? How far can investors predict gold’s worth in times of crisis and what kind of crises drives gold? The interplay of global players, governments, their policies, currency strategies and large private investors have complicated the predictability of the gold price. Hence, the present study is aimed to analyze the reliability of gold when countries are headed into crises as well as economic and political impacts on the gold price, using content and data analysis method based on library resources<strong>.</strong>

The Islamic Republic of Iran's Middle East policy and its fundamentals are among the most discussed issues in the MiddleEast's international politics. The present paper seeks to analyze the structure and formation of Iran's foreign policy interests in the region with a view of bureaucratic diplomacy. Based on Graham Allison's framework of organizational trends and bureaucratic politics, this study assesses two recent Iranian presidents' foreign policy toward Saudi Arabia. Bureaucratic diplomacy of Iran, along with military and security apparatus formulate and implement Iranian foreign policy tactics. Ahmadinejad focused on developing a personal relationship with Saudi leaders, which was not aligned with his bureaucratic diplomacy, though. However, Rouhani embarked on making use of JCPOA as a model to negotiate with Saudi Arabia. The region's constantly evolving situation, the hostile approach of Saudi Arabia, and the maximum pressure of the U.S. on Iran prevented Rouhani’s bureaucratic diplomacy from succeeding.