Islamic Republic of Iran’s Cultural Diplomacy in the Middle East

One of the most important mechanisms for realizing Islamic Republic of Iran’s foreign policy objectives involves devising and implementing an efficient cultural diplomacy. In Iran, within the past years, the importance of developing cultural diplomacy has increasingly gained the attention of policymakers, officials and agents of the country’s academic community; hence much investment has been made in this regard. A number of related activities performed in this respect include publishing articles and books, holding seminars and meetings, initiating a variety of radio and TV stations, admitting foreign students, exchanging delegations from among the intellectuals and reference groups and so on. Exercising cultural diplomacy on part of the Islamic Republic becomes even more crucial in the Middle East, because within the past years we have witnessed the rise of two strong waves of Iranophobia and Shiaphobia
promoted by regional and transregional actors in order to isolate Tehran in its political, security and cultural setting. The authors maintain that political and sociocultural changes within the Middle Eastern countries within the past years along with the two aforementioned waves would demand a revision in Islamic Republic of Iran’s foreign policy attitude in utilizing cultural diplomacy tools and offering a new definition of traditional cultural diplomacy.