The Impact of American Think Tanks on its Foreign Policy towards Regional Role of Iran (Trump Era)

In the United States, think tanks are known alongside the media as the fourth element of democracy. These think tanks, which have elites with experience in policy making, have growing influence in agenda setting, notably foreign policy, and become an effective variable in decision making in the US. One of interests of these think tanks is the US Middle East policy, which has become a high priority over the past decades with developments such as the Islamic Revolution of Iran, the formation of the Resistance Front and the strengthening of militant groups against the Israeli regime. Regional policies or Iran's regional influence (in the words of these think tanks) has now become a problematic issue that American think tanks are seeking to control and limit by suggesting various solutions. Therefore, the main question of the article is: What is the impact of American think tanks on US foreign policy toward Iran's regional role? The Hypothesis of this article is that American think tanks are divided over Iran's regional role. While some of them (moderates) are seeking to control Iran, as not to be an obstacle to American hegemony in the West Asia region, but others (extremists) consider Iran a vital threat and seek to weaken Iran severely and they are even looking for regime change in Iran. The present study was performed by an analytical, descriptive method based on library studies.