Designing a model of the application of the soft power of defense diplomacy in implementing the defense policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Advances in the armed forces' mission from military issues and the battlefield to advisory, cooperative and diplomatic and dialogue issues have paved the way for defense interactions between countries. Nowadays, many countries try to use nonviolent, peaceful and low-cost methods, such as defense diplomacy and negotiation to follow their defense policies, and using the obtained data from defense interactions act in a more rational way in making decisions and formulating their future defense policies. In this research, it was tried to provide a model considering how the soft power of defense diplomacy can be employed in the implementation of future defense policies and decisions. To do this, using field method (interview) the data collected based on the data theory were analyzed qualitatively. The statistical population of this study included 22 professors, experts, researchers and experts in the field of research who had been selected using the method of the chain sampling (snowball). The obtained results showed that the effective employment of defense diplomacy in the implementation of defense policies had positive effects and consequences for the Islamic Republic of Iran at the national and international levels. In addition, it played an effective role in shaping defense policy data, influencing policymakers' future decisions, and facilitating the achievement of defense and military objectives.