نشریه مطالعات خاورمیانه
سال بیست و ششم شماره 4 (پیاپی 98، زمستان 1398)

Syria has strategic importance for Iran. Sudden rise of the Syrian Kurds in the context of regional political developments in the region in a rapid timespan, especially in light of Syrian developments on regional and transregional scales attracted the attention of many scholars. Syrian Kurds who were ignored as invisible ghosts before the crisis suddenly appeared as a serious actor in these developments. Drawing upon a historical approach and using the discourse theory, this article seeks to answer the question of how the Kurds in Syria were marginalized and how they returned to the content. To answer this question, the authors formulated the hypothesis that a set of historical factors such as the policies of the Mandate era, changes in transitional period, the Ba’ath Party and Kurdish-Syrian relations have been among the most important factors in marginalizing Kurds. The authors analyze the historical backgrounds of Kurdish marginalization and study their discursive context. On the other hand, the adoption of the democratic confederal discourse instead of a nationalist one has played a major part, from a discursive perspective, in bringing Kurds to the content in northern Syria in post-2011 period. One of the most important findings of this research has been paying attention to the role of discursive turn in the developments of northern Syria and showing this fundamental issue that, if the situation in northern Syria is stabilized, the hegemony of this discourse will have regional consequences.

Since the establishment of the three countries of Turkey, Syria and Iraq, the Tigris and Euphrates river basins have been consistently experiencing various water tensions. Besides, the implementation of several water projects by these countries (particularly Turkey) has exacerbated these tensions. The completion of the GAP projects along with the extensive climate change and subsequently the water disputers resulting from a severe reduction in the water resources can provide the ground for the rise of political tensions among Turkey, Syria and Iraq. Considering this hypothesis, this study is aimed at investigating the impact of this problem on the political relations among the countries situated in this basin. The authors investigate the water status in these three countries as well as their domestic and regional water tensions. Then, adopting the theories of the Copenhagen School, the water tensions and disputes among the three countries are analyzed in terms of five dimensions of security including military, political, economic, social, and environmental dimensions. The findings of the research show that the issue of water disputes in this basin, due to its impacts on agriculture, increased unemployment rate, poverty, migration, drying of the wetlands and rivers, formation of the dust phenomenon, and legitimacy crisis, has posed serious risks to four dimensions of security (including political, economic, social, and environmental). However, regarding the military weakness of Iraq and Syria besides the high capacity of the Turkish army compared to those two countries, the military security threats seem to be unlikely in the near future.

The U.S. foreign policy towards the Islamic Republic of Iran (2000-2017) resulted from domestic sources of American foreign policy. Various active lobbies are among the most important domestic sources of the U.S. foreign policy. In order to explain American foreign policy according to its domestic sources, the authors would use neo-classic realist theory. The authors would answer this main question: what are the impacts of the Israeli-Arab lobbies on U.S. foreign policy towards Iran’s nuclear program (2000-2017)? The findings would suggest that Israeli-Arab lobbies have achieved a common goal: they would seek to encourage US economic and political elites to adopt anti-Iranian policies such as imposing economic sanctions. In fact, Israeli lobbies and Arab lobbies have coordinated their efforts to persuade U.S. lawmakers to impose various economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran. By doing so, they have tried to decrease Iran’s political and economic influence in the Middle East

The unique geographical location and established social factors have made the Middle East a strategically important region, as it lies at the center of the three continents of Asia, Europe, and Africa, offering the shortest air and water routes to Europe and Asia. It is therefore essential to study the various dimensions and effects of outer space on the region. The term outer space was first coined by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, and has been extensively researched in recent decades. The present era is therefore the period of advent of high technology, which is rapidly expanding, thus making it possible to reach ultra-atmospheric spaces. In the present Middle East landscape, there is a great deal of tension between countries. Any nation, which is able to possess a variety of science particularly control over outer space will enjoy a particular status. For this reason, conducting studies in this regard is of utmost importance especially for Iran, given its search for technological advances and pursuit of aerospace programs. Such studies will enhance Iran’s sociopolitical influence, boosting its regional and even international power.

Recent years events in Middle East particularly Persian Gulf have caused serious competition and conflict between Iran and Arabic countries of the Persian Gulf, especially Saudi Arabia. This has caused that some these countries try to form Arabic coalitions and alliances such as joint Arab military force plan (Arab NATO). This intensified competition and conflict that may causes to form some new coalitions can be examined in the framework of the “balance of threats” Stephen Walt. By using descriptive - analytical and data collection of the library, the paper tries to answer this question: what grounds are there for the formation of Arab NATO plan based on the four variables of the Walt’s theory? The results show that the field has been provided for the formation of Arab NATO because to intensifying of the negative aspects of the four main variables power, Neighborhood, aggressive capability and intentions in relations between Iran and Arabic countries such as Saudi Arabia. Arab NATO could causes more being security of Iran. So Iran’s economic development will be faced with new problems. Therefore some actions such as designing of specific policies to prevent the formation of such an alliance and designing of expanded political and economic cooperations with some Arab countries have a common interest with Iran can reduce the risks of Arabic balance of threat against Iran.

Since the beginning of Israeli-Turkish relations, their ties have been greatly affected by the Arab-Israeli relations. After a decade of close economic, diplomatic, and military ties, their bilateral relations became strained in 2000. The Second Intifada, the rise of Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP), the Second Lebanon War, and the Israeli-Gaza conflict are all the factors that have strained such relations. There are many economic and security reasons for Turkish-Israeli cooperation. Using a descriptive-analytical approach examining the context of Turkish-Israeli relations, this article shows that despite the common interests, the differences in the political approaches of the two countries preclude the complete resolution of the disputes. Although the 2016 reconciliation sparked bilateral cooperation in recent years, it is still too early to talk about wider security and diplomatic cooperation. This article argues that as long as the AKP holds power in Turkey, diplomatic relations remain limited as it has historically been possible to make a distinction between economic interests and political differences for the two countries.