Missile Capability in Islamic Republic of Iran’s Policy in the West Asia(2018-2001)

The tumultuous security environment in the West Asia has characteristics that cause ballistic missiles with collective efficiency and effectiveness to be able to serve as an equalizer to work like a key against military advantages and quantitative and qualitative advantages on the part of other countries. For this very reason, the Islamic Republic of Iran has turned to adopting a defense self-sufficiency approach against regional and trans-regional threats, focusing on strengthening its indigenous ballistic missile capability in light of its war experiences with the Baathist Iraq as well as considering the international sanctions on purchasing and procuring modern military weapons. The main question in this article is, "What status does missile have in I.R.I's security policy in the West Asia?" The basis for answering this question is the neo-realistic theory, where this hypothesis set forth: Due to unique advantages and characteristics that exist in missiles as well as the obstacles and limitations that originate from international sanctions, the Islamic Republic of Iran has started to strengthen its indigenous ballistic missile capability (short-intermediate-and long-range) in order to preserve power balance and to prevent the formation of regional hegemony.Serving as a spine for the defense policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, ballistic missiles count as the most important means for this country to achieve regional power balance. This research is of qualitative type, being based on analytical-descriptive method and a deep interview with 19 of the elites. Also, the data collection was done with the library method.