The analysis of Iranian foreign policy on economic-political axis: 1979-2012

This thesis basically aims at explaining the evolution of foreign policy of a revolutionary state from 1979 to 2012 with reference to socio-economic and political processes that have domestic and international dimensions. It yet mainly focuses on Iran?s relations with Venezuela, China and Russia, all of which seek for a multi-polar world order, during the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad era (2005-2012). Once Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005, Iran left a policy of detente with the United States, which was adopted by the Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami Administrations so as to relax tensions between Iran and the U.S. Currently, Ahmadinejad Administration pursues for creating a political and economic block in which American influence is diluted with these countries across broad range of activities as a response to Washington?s efforts to isolate Tehran from the international system. In fact, Iran under Ahmadinejad?s seeking for going beyond the political and economic ties with these countries across broad range of activities is a part of the evolution of Iranian foreign policy. The argument of this thesis is that the governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran adopted different foreign policy strategies with the intention of achieving independency of the country and strengthening/saving the regime, the Islamic Republic in the face of domestic and international challenges. The research evaluates the evolution of Iranian foreign policy from this perspective. Keywords: Iran, Venezuela, China, Russia, Foreign Policy, Political-Economy.