Understanding Iranian Foreign Policy - The Case of Iranian Nuclear Program

Abstract

This paper examines the complexity of the Iranian foreign policy through the case of Iranian nuclear program. The paper aims to assess foreign policy orientations and compares actions of the last three Iranian presidents, Mohammad Khatami, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and current Hassan Rouhani in dealing with the international community (IC) in pursuing its nuclear program. This assessment would not be complete without reference to the Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei who is actual head of the state and the most powerful political authority.

This paper also relates Iranian foreign policy expectation to competing theories of international relations to identify the most dominant or the most consistent policy orientation. Its aim is to strengthen realist and power-based explanations that have dominated the discourse on Middle Eastern in general and Iranian foreign policy in particular.

In this context, a number of questions will be addressed here. To what extend was Iranian negotiation with the IC over its nuclear program consistent throughout these three presidencies? What has changed, if anything, from Iranian foreign policy perspective and why? Can Iranian foreign policy behavior on this specific topic and in this specific time be explained through any international relations theory? As there are many other questions, so there are many theories to examine and explain true Iranian intentions, those below the surface of declared goals (Hadzikadunic, 2014).

The methods employed in answering these questions are largely structured around a chronological account and comparative approach. It is also based on the analysis of foreign policy discourse and the assessment of key decision makers.