ژئوپلیتیک

This article explores the relation of Iranian ports with their surrounding regions from the geopolitical-spatial perspective since 6th century BC. Content analysis of historical data obtained from written, pictorial and secondary sources is the method used to achieve this aim. The results denote that the geopolitical-spatial evolution of Iranian ports and the surrounding regions can be classified into three general eras: in the first era (from 6th to 15th century), with the domination of the most powerful Iranian states on both sides of the Persian Gulf, the geopolitical-spatial of Iran often had foreland-oriented structure with mutual interaction of ports and hinterlands especially up to regional scale. In the second era (from 16th to 19th century) which coincided with the arrival of powerful foreign forces in the Persian Gulf, the rulers implemented a geopolitical policy: the protection of mainland with the aim of territorial integrity maintenance. So, in this era hinterland-oriented spatial structure was formed based on the interaction in local, regional and national levels. Also, the geospatial scheme of the country was founded on the basis of endogenous activities and integration political power. In the third era and with the exploration of oil (beginning of the 20th century till now), production, trade and distribution system of the country has undergone radical changes and along with formation of powerful world capitalist system, it has become subject to political and economic changes of this system. Directing capital flow to the capital and obtaining such development policies as growth pole, spatial structure of the country has tended towards corridor- polarized pattern. This pattern has led to the pole-oriented hinterland spatial structure based on single-product (oil) export. In other words, in this era, the political, spatial and economical geography relied on the political and economic decisions that were concentrated in the capital. Accordingly, spatial planning in the local-regional hinterland about habitats, activities and distribution of services depended on the capital decisions in the national hinterland.

International Transport Corridors and Interstate Pipelines are important sources of conflict and competition between major powers. From a Realistic point of view, they are not only economic Initiatives but also can be used as a political leverage for countries en route. So each major power has proposed its own preferred corridor. EU’s TRACECA Initiative and Southern Gas Corridor, United State’s New Silk Road and its support for pipelines like BTE, TCP, TAPI etc, Chinese OBOR Initiative and Russia's support for International North-South Corridor-INSC and various pipeline projects are obviously in line with this Realistic Approach. I.R. Iran due to its geopolitical situation potentially faces different choices, so it is important to exactly survey this initiatives and obstacles facing. After offering a very exact and comprehensive description of European supported Interstate Initiatives in Caspian Sea and Black sea, this article will evaluate the consequences of the resolution of nuclear issue between I. R. Iran and the West and continuation of Development Oriented Foreign Policy in terms of reducing obstacles facing these initiatives. The hypothesis is that the resolution of nuclear issue, termination of sanctions and continuation of development oriented Foreign Policy will considerably ease the obstacles that development of Southern Gas Corridor-SGC facing, but will not overshadow TRACECA’s status.

Rebalancing of Power is one of the most important subjects for international and national security in U.S policy toward Iran and other regional actors. President Trump attempts to change U.S regional policy based on offshore balancing in Persian Gulf and Middle East. This approach concentrated on promotes U.S national interest. Trump’s policy will effect on regional structure of international politics. Barak Obama policy toward Iran concentrated on negotiation and engagement process for promote Iran’s position in regional and international politics. Obama foreign policy team argues that politics and international relations depended on Iran’s role in regional balancing of power. Geopolitical approaches emphasized on Trump interaction of geography and strategy. Trump’s team argues that defense and security policy depended on how U.S policy and regional countries collaborates their goals and interests. Trump’s foreign policy team has systematically tried, significant rapprochement among the Persian Gulf states on the issue of security almost impossible. For these reasons, a collective regionally crafted security arrangement that includes littoral states on Iran.

Borders are geo-spatial phenomena which including different dimensions. So, research and scientific work in the field of border studies for being accurate and acceptable should be done in such a way those different dimensions of border studies have considered. The problem is that only some dimensions have been considered and not others which would provide reduction of the credibility and effectiveness of the studies. The first step in the study of border can be considered basic dimensions of the border. So, this study has been completed by analytical and descriptive study and by using content analysis and data library with the aim of achieving basic dimensions of border studies. The results indicate that the dimensions discussed in border studies derived from theories, views and border articles are at least 55, which can be divided in the form of eight; geographical, political-sovereignty, defense-security, socio-cultural, economic, legal, geopolitical and technological. These dimensions and indexes by T-test have been evaluated and approved and their ranking is as follows; security- defense have the highest score and technological the lowest score. On the other hand it should be noted with regard to the nature of the bilateral border; these eight basic dimensions of border must be considered on both sides of the border and studied until scientific studies and researches have the necessary performance.

Religions are one of the major forces in the world today and have a special ability to create ""systemic change"". They motivate their followers and as a key variable allow new players appear in the global arena. Furthermore, religious motivations, from past to present, are effective factor for forming armed movements such as Islamic fundamentalist groups. Middle East area due to the disparate political boundaries, Baathist , nationalist and Arab attitudes , Islamist movements and human conflicts on the one hand, and the presence of extra-regional activists, on the other hand, was the place for evolving and organizing of the Islamic fundamentalist groups. This research seeks to use the realistic approaches and identity and to answer the following question: Did religious ideas and constructing a new identity based on them make Islamic fundamentalist groups organize their activities in the region? Results show that the religious ideas, which has been turned into an ideology, has made regional activists use of religion for political goals and objectives and this is one of the techniques of fundamentalist groups in the Middle East. As a result, using existing platforms, regional and trans-regional activists have been able to organize fundamentalist groups. It is predicted that these ideological conflicts will change geopolitical balance of the region geopolitically which will also have some global consequences.

India and Israel are in a multilateral long-term relationship with each other. Iran, as a third party, has two different stances with regard to these two countries. On the one, Iranian culture has its root in India and Iranian have longstanding formal and informal relationship with this country; on the other hand, because of the emergence of Israel and the way it treats Muslims it has been known as a usurper since the Islamic Revolution and is regarded as one of Iran's enemies. Relationship between Iran’s enemy and ally can create conditions worthy of study. This study is aimed at evaluating geo-culture policies of Israel in India and its impact on cultural influence of Iran in the Indian subcontinent. This is a descriptive-analytical research, the results of which are obtained based on library studies. The research hypothesis is that expansion of friendly ties between Israel and India could threaten Iran's national interests. Studies have shown that Israel has adopted various policies to reduce the effectiveness of Iran influence in Indian society and limit the influence of Persian culture

As it looks at the region, Trump can see three central challenges facing the Middle East, working together to create the horrible brew we're now dealing with. The first challenge is the security vacuums in places like Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen that followed the collapse of some of these Arab republics. These vacuums are highly problematic, setting the conditions for extremism. They are where extremists organize and plan attacks, and where refugees originate. A lot of these destabilizing problems, then affect the entire region. Trump's election is a massive setback for humanitarian issues, in fact, many welcome him, despite his rhetoric on Muslims, women and minorities. Most troubling, however, is that many of U.S questions about his approach to the Middle East cannot be answered right now because he literally has no experience in foreign policy. The international community has no idea what to expect from Trump, and such diplomatic uncertainty is a humbling experience at best. Trump needs to reassure its nation's allies before he becomes president; assurances and commitments are especially crucial when times are tough, as they are now. NATO is important, but so are the Sunni Arab states. Given that one of Trump's few clear aims is to destroy the Islamic State, it is absolutely imperative that Saudi Arabia and similar countries be involved, since the group's ideology cannot be discredited without them.

The dust phenomenon is spread across the Tigris and Euphrates river basins, as a hazard resulting from the human and environment interaction. The phenomenon has various aspects and one of them is the political one. In this article, the political effects of the dust phenomenon at the Tigris and Euphrates' basins are studied. Using analytic- descriptive method and based on library and filed research data gathering procedures, the research intends to examine this question: “what are the political factors affecting the exacerbation of dust storms at the Tigris and Euphrates' basins?""The obtained results indicate that the phenomenon has caused increases in political discontent, emigration, and national costs, role-playing of the international organizations and has affected the policies of the Middle East countries.