Explanation of the functions of Iran's buffer status in the past two centuries

In the past two centuries, Iran as a buffer space, has played multi- functional roles in political and geopolitical arena due to power games of maritime and land empires of Britain and Russia in order to prevent the possibility of direct contact and conflict between rival powers. These functions have been performedsometimes by bilateral powers’agreements, sometimes by one of them and sometimes by Iran’s government andnation as a reaction against powers’ game. Although Iran has had a weak and neutral presence in these regional and global rivalries, it has had different important functions that can be presented as a model of functions and roles of buffer State. So, this research considers explaning the functions of Iran’s Buffer space with a descriptive- analytic methodology. Data gathering procedure is library and field finding. The research findings iluminate 22- functions in two general class of external functions and internal functions of Iran’s Buffer location.