فصلنامه تاریخ روابط خارجی
پیاپی 56 (پاییز 1392)

In Safavid time, the Southern Ports of Iran, particularly Bandar Abbas, had a special place in international trade and had grabbed the attention of the Europeans. Shah Abbas seized this opportunity to develop trade and economy of Iran. Furthermore, while intensifying competition among trade partners, he adopted the policy of trade centralization in the region whereby he integrated all trade activities in one single port, connected to land, and as a result prevented trade activities to be scattered around other ports. This change exercised more supervision on trade activities. Shah Abbas also adopted, inter alia, the policy of “double containment” whereby Shah granted more concessions and privileges to European traders in order to break up the monopoly and dominance of a single government over the trade activities of the region.The purpose of this study is to examine the strategies and solutions Shah Abbas adopted, while safeguarding national interests, to interact with the European Governments in sea trade as well as to examine the pivotal role of Bandar Abbas. The present study also reviews the performance of Shah Abbas as related in historical texts, documents and travel literatures written by the Europeans, and as it could be inferred from the methods of interactions with the European Governments in the Persian Gulf, fostering competitions among them while safeguarding national interests and the impact on the prosperity of international trade.

During the reign of Naser al-Din Shah, foreign relations of Iran were remarkably developed and as a result the issues of foreign affairs were no longer within the jurisdiction of the court and the Chancellor and were assigned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which had been established for 28 years. Such development coincided with the beginning of Naser al-Din Shah’s reign and Chancellorship of Amir Kabir, an authoritative chancellor who had not only been tasked with foreign affairs but also had years of remarkable experience in diplomatic missions to other countries and was well-informed about the importance of foreign affairs structures. Although his short term of chancellorship did not allow him to realize his lofty ideas and aspirations, he left a valuable legacy for the foreign affairs of Iran through laying the foundation and training professionals. Using a descriptive-analytical method, the present article, while introducing foreign ministers in Naser al-din Shan’s administration, gives accounts on performance and circumstances of their terms of office. The study found out that the then Ministry of Foreign Affairs, similar to other Qajar’s administrative structures, was stuck in Russia-Britain bipolarity and the fierce controversy between Mirza Saeed khan and Mirza Hossein Khan over the position of minister led to no result but decay and inefficiency of Iran’s foreign policy.

The first Diplomatic contact between Iran and Mexico dates back to the beginning of the 20th Century. Although being geographically very remote, the two countries decided to establish diplomatic relations. Following negotiations between the Ambassadors of Iran and Mexico in Washington, the ground was prepared for sending Ambassadors at large, and after signing an agreement of friendship, the two states were entitled to the privileges of the Most Favored Nations principle. The present article examines the formation of Iran-Mexico relations to in Qajar Period based on existing documents at the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Drawing Iran’s borders took almost 400 years and the reason was on one hand due to the vast extent of areas under dispute and the intervention made by the great powers particularly Britain. Since mid-19th Century this intervention by Russia and Britain led to signing of treaties whereby Iran-Ottoman borders as well as Iran-Iraq currents borders were, with a slight change, established. This study considers the trend of development in establishment of Iran’s borders with Ottoman and later with Iraq – it successor- from time of signing the Treaty of Erzurum in 1874 to signing of border treaty and establishment of good neighbor policy between Iran and Iraq in 1975, given the role of two great powers particularly the Britain.

Years before the outbreak of the Second World War, a major part of Iran industry had been developed by Germans. After the war the sea siege on Germany had adverse impacts on industries and the trend of industrialization in Iran, which began to manifest in different forms in the Iranian economy. The present article, supported by a variety of documents and references, examines the impact of the WWII on the industry and economy of Iran.

One of the important subjects in Historical Studies is the analysis of “unknown relations” between Iran and the Zionist Regime during reign of Pahlavi Dynasty. The purpose of this article is to find an answer for this pivotal question: “what were the dimensions of the relations between Iran and the Zionist Regime, and was there any balance and equilibrium?” In order to find the answer, the study considers Iran and Zionist Regime relations through three decades (1948-1978) in various aspects of economy, security-intelligence, military and culture. The data required for this study was collected via library method and from existing relevant documents.