Foreign Policy Strategies of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Make Integration in the Middle East and its Obstacles

Any political unit for keeping its existence, needs the regional integration
among its components. The Middle East is a specific geopolitical region.
In view of its particular geopolitical and geostrategic significance in the
world and the Middle East, the Islamic Republic of Iran has identified
one of its foreign policy goals as a platform for integration in the
countries of the region, and some strategies have been developed to
achieve this goal. But the process of events has gone so far that it has
led to many challenges, and as a result, these strategies have not made
much integration. The main goal of this research is to collect and use
appropriate library data and then to describe and analyze them, as well
as to utilize functionalism and neo-functionalism, and in this way, the
strategies of the Islamic Republic of Iran to shape integration in the
Middle East region will be evaluated. It is also necessary to identify
and assess the challenges and obstacles that exist to achieve this goal.
According to the above goal, the question of this research is: «What
are the Islamic Republic of Iran›s strategies to shape integration in the
Middle East, and what are the challenges and obstacles to achieving this
goal?» The research hypothesis is also drafted: «The Islamic Republic
of Iran, inspired by the constitution and the mission of the Islamic
Revolution, used strategies to shape integration in the Middle East in
its foreign policy, which, due to differences of opinion with most of the
countries of the region, particularly in the Arab Persian Gulf states in
various economic, political, ideological and security spheres, this effort
has faced challenges and obstacles. «The findings of this study show
that Iran›s efforts to align and integration in the Middle East are only
acceptable for some of the region›s actors, known as the «Islamic axis of
resistance,» but most of the states in the region that are on the opposite
side and known as the «conservative axis» are opposed to these efforts.