Foreign Policy Strategies of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Make Integration in the Middle East and its Obstacles

Any political unit for keeping its existence, needs the regional integration among its components. The Middle East is a specific geopolitical region. In view of its particular geopolitical and geostrategic significance in the world and the Middle East, the Islamic Republic of Iran has identified one of its foreign policy goals as a platform for integration in the countries of the region, and some strategies have been developed to achieve this goal. But the process of events has gone so far that it has led to many challenges, and as a result, these strategies have not made much integration. The main goal of this research is to collect and use appropriate library data and then to describe and analyze them, as well as to utilize functionalism and neo-functionalism, and in this way, the strategies of the Islamic Republic of Iran to shape integration in the Middle East region will be evaluated. It is also necessary to identify and assess the challenges and obstacles that exist to achieve this goal. According to the above goal, the question of this research is: «What are the Islamic Republic of Iran›s strategies to shape integration in the Middle East, and what are the challenges and obstacles to achieving this goal?» The research hypothesis is also drafted: «The Islamic Republic of Iran, inspired by the constitution and the mission of the Islamic Revolution, used strategies to shape integration in the Middle East in its foreign policy, which, due to differences of opinion with most of the countries of the region, particularly in the Arab Persian Gulf states in various economic, political, ideological and security spheres, this effort has faced challenges and obstacles. «The findings of this study show that Iran›s efforts to align and integration in the Middle East are only acceptable for some of the region›s actors, known as the «Islamic axis of resistance,» but most of the states in the region that are on the opposite side and known as the «conservative axis» are opposed to these efforts.