The Fundamental and Applied Studies of the Islamic World

Abstract Iran, relying on its geopolitical necessities and foundations—including its strategic and transit position, human and natural characteristics, and its historical centrality in the Islamic world—is considered a regional power in Southwest Asia. Given this description, global and extra-regional powers such as the United States and the Israeli regime—which are present in this region based on their self-interest—are striving either to bring Iran under their hegemony and domination, or to diminish and prevent Iran's independent behavior in Southwest Asia. Prioritizing the elimination of Iran as the leading pole of the Islamic world—which is attempting to counter their sphere of influence in regional countries such as Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon—they seek to achieve their interests. A true understanding of the components, capabilities, and facilities of each country—in a word, its geopolitical foundations—on the one hand, and on the other hand, the formulation of goals, policies, and programs aimed at ensuring national security and national power, which is the same as geopolitical dignity and status, in fact serves as a guiding light for any international actor. Iran, with its geopolitical foundations influenced by its geography, has always been the focus of world countries, especially global powers, throughout history.
The political and strategic environment of the Islamic Republic is located within overlapping circles of the Persian Gulf, the Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Southwest Asia. The unique nature of Iran after the Islamic Revolution throughout its historical periods is such that it can emerge and function as a regional power. It is obvious that for many reasons, including proximity to the Persian Gulf and centrality in the Islamic world, especially Shiism, these are among the most fundamental attachments of Iran. Iran's powerful presence on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean is the result of all the mentioned characteristics and is influenced by energy, the first revolution, and is the best evidence that Iran is at the expected level of this writing. However, the extensive presence of international powers and the clash of their interests with Iran's presence have created serious obstacles for what Iran deserves.
The United States has also been the main extra-regional actor and power influencing the security processes of West Asia, especially the Persian Gulf region, over the past four decades, and has planned and implemented various security schemes for this region. The expansion of military bases in the countries of this area and the frequent movement of American ships and submarines in the waters of the Persian Gulf are evidence of this importance. Moreover, specifically after September 11, in the US strategy, while energy issues and the Arab-Israeli conflict remained, communism gave way to terrorism. On the other hand, the Israeli regime, as a strategic partner of the United States, has shown great concern and sensitivity towards regional developments, and its political and intelligence apparatuses have precisely monitored and continue to monitor these developments. This is because the Israeli regime has faced significant and serious security constraints and challenges since its formation.
In Southwest Asia, Iran—due to its various geographical advantages, its adjacency to the world's geopolitical and geostrategic regions throughout different historical periods, its special transit position, its location within the strategic energy ellipse and other economic advantages, and especially its cultural centrality, its position as the center of Shiism, and its pivotal role in the Islamic world—can play a greater role than its national and geographical power. This role will be influential in regional politics and order, and if this role materializes and comes to fruition, it will be an important factor for enhancing Iran's position, organizing relations and the perspective of other regional countries toward Iran, and most importantly, for establishing order and progressing toward regional security in the future.
In this article, utilizing library documents and a descriptive-analytical method, we seek to answer the question of to what extent Iran's presence in Southwest Asia possesses the necessary geopolitical logic and necessity, and what are the geopolitical results and dimensions of Iran's independent behavior and presence in this region? Undoubtedly, Iran, by emphasizing its geopolitical characteristics, can play its special role in Southwest Asia.

Abstract The strategic miscalculation of the Zionist regime in attacking the consulate of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Syria provided an opportunity for the country to adopt, in accordance with international law, an operation with strategic and non-strategic consequences, avoiding direct confrontation with the United States and the Zionist regime, which would have profound effects on the national and international levels that need to be explained. Conducting this research will help to better understand, analyze, and explain the impact of Operation True Promise on the strategic deepening components of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, as well as to create awareness and a common vision in explaining the impact of Operation True Promise on domestic and foreign strategic deepening.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, with Operation True Promise in the face of the Zionist regime's strategy based on a shock blow and the doctrine of preemptive action in attacking the Iranian consular section in Damascus, as the essence of the Tel Aviv strategy, while challenging the Zionist regime's strategy, has had important strategic consequences in deepening the Islamic Revolution internally and externally with the two goals of obtaining national security benefits and repelling threats to the Islamic Revolution, the components of which need to be explained. The type of research is applied and developmental in terms of purpose and has a descriptive-analytical nature. The methodological approach of the research is a mixed exploratory one, and the community of expertise of this research includes defense, security, and strategic experts of the country and the expert sample includes 14 experts with doctoral degrees in fields related to national security, strategy, and political science with at least 20 years of experience and responsibility in the relevant executive field and in a purposeful manner to the level of theoretical saturation. To analyze the collected data, thematic analysis was used to categorize and classify the research elements, and statistical analysis was used with tests such as Lavish coefficient, rank average using SPSS software, and Cronbach's alpha factors and composite reliability were used to examine validity and reliability. The results of the research include the impact of Operation True Promise on 5 internal components and 11 external components of deepening the Islamic Revolution, including emphasizing the need for wise and courageous leadership in society, increasing the social capital of the armed forces, promoting national pride, conveying the message of negation of hegemony and subjugation to the international community, effective in reducing or changing the approach of confrontation and competition of some countries in the region, etc.
In this study, based on direct reference to the study of texts, articles, and scientific sources, and then utilizing the knowledge, aristocracy, and documented experiences of elites, senior managers, and experts, the internal and external deepening components affected by Operation True Promise were formulated, and after confirmation in the focus group, the desired questions were extracted from the questionnaire and the opinions of experts were obtained. The results of the study show that the most important effects of Operation True Promise on the internal deepening of the Islamic Republic of Iran are, respectively: emphasizing the need for wise and courageous leadership in society, increasing the social capital of the armed forces, promoting national pride, emphasizing the development of the country's defense capabilities, and the necessity of national endurance and stability (resilience) against threats. Also, the most important effects of the Honest Promise operation in deepening the external position of the Islamic Republic of Iran are, respectively: conveying the message of negation of hegemony and subjugation to the international community, effective in reducing or changing the approach of confrontation and competition of some countries in the region against the Islamic Republic of Iran, effective in emphasizing relations based on the principles of honor, wisdom, and expediency, effective in developing strategic depth and presence in the enemy's vital areas, effective in strengthening popular groups aligned with the Islamic Revolution of Iran, effective in promoting Iran's role in regional and international developments, effective in promoting international prestige, effective in recognizing Iran as a reliable ally, increasing its influence on decisions of international forums, effective in creating readiness to confront the unipolarization of the world and the hegemony of the United States over the world, effective in recognizing the Islamic Republic as a model for countries and negating rival models of governance, which is based on reliability based on Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability, the level of agreement with the Lavesche coefficient, and the significance with the average. A ranking was presented and explained.
 
 

Abstract In the international system, which is anarchic in nature due to Kenneth Waltz's theory and its actors tend to impose will on other actors according to their Hobbesian nature, balance of power has always been a practical way to create public security in the world. In the meantime, weaker countries are motivated to avoid regional hegemony by forming regional and international coalitions to withstand the threats of powerful global actors by forming a higher power that is the product of the convergence of smaller powers.
From the beginning of the victory of the Revolution, the Islamic Republic of Iran confronted the bipolar system of that time with the strategic slogan of "neither East nor West". However, events such as the capture of the US embassy in Tehran, the Iraqi war against Iran, etc., deepened Iran's conflict with the United States. The Islamic Republic has sought to join one of the strongest regional coalitions to counter the US hegemony.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which includes two veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council, China and Russia, as well as India's economic power, is a viable option for the Islamic Republic of Iran. At the same time, the huge energy reserves (oil and gas) of its members and the geopolitical position of its members, as well as their nuclear and military capabilities, have given the organization the potential to counter the US hegemony.
By becoming a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in 2021, the Islamic Republic will be able to pursue its "Look East" policy in order to overcome Western economic sanctions, and by converging with its powerful members, China and Russia to have the upper hand in negotiations with European governments on Iran's nuclear case known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action(BARJAM).
The military confrontation of the Islamic Republic of Iran with the United States, which took place after the assassination of the commander of the Quds Force of Iran, General Soleimani, carried out by the direct order of the President of the United States and resulted in the Islamic Republic’s serious response in a missile assault against the Amerrican military base in Iraq, with Iran's full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, now reached a new stage. US leaders now see Iran's accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as a serious threat to their interests in the region and are seeking an alternative plan to thwart the Islamic Republic's alliance with the East.
Iran's full membership in this organization will have significant geopolitical, military, political and economic effects on the relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States. But the realization of these cases depends on the proper functioning of the diplomatic apparatus of the Islamic Republic and regional and global developments in the future.
Iran must be able to solve its problems with the world system while joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Iran's nuclear program and the problems caused by the FATF are serious obstacles to Iran's prominent role in the international system. At the same time, membership in other international organizations will help complete this process. Of course, the Islamic Republic of Iran is trying to join the Eurasian Union in order to achieve this goal and wants to use the economic capacity of this union to neutralize another part of the economic problems caused by Western sanctions.
The consequences of NATO's eastward expansion policy, which has led to many tensions in the region, including the Crimean and Ukrainian crises, should not be repeated elsewhere, including in the Persian Gulf. China and Russia also desperately need a strong asymmetric player like Iran to secure energy in the region and counter NATO's eastward expansion. Therefore, their serious support for Iran's full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization indicates the strategic balance of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization with the hegemony of the Western world led by the United States of America.
The water crisis, which has plagued eastern Iran for years due to Afghanistan dam projects, and the long-stagnant water transfer program from Tajikistan to Iran, must be completed using Iran's full membership capacity.
The development of the tourism industry and the use of Iran's potential capacity in this industry is another economic goal of Iran to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which should be pursued with the cooperation of other members and the rich tourism revenue gained by some countries in the region, including Turkey, will be to a large extent absorbed by Iran's tourism potential.