Making strategy of Iran's foreign policy in South Asia using swot and sdm model

Countries are the most important players in world politics. In recent decades, the tendency of countries to establish regional structures has been developing. Peripheral geopolitical regions play a special role in the foreign policy of countries. Countries adopt different orientations in their foreign policy in proportion to regional opportunities and threats and internal strengths and weaknesses. One of the important geopolitical regions around Iran is the South Asian region. It meets the three geopolitical regions of East and Southeast Asia, Central Asia and West Asia. What is happening in South Asia is affecting Iran's national interests and security. Therefore, having a proper strategy in foreign policy provides the necessary ability to maintain and strengthen Iran's national interests in the South Asian region.The purpose of this research is to make Iran's foreign policy strategy in the South Asian region. This research is applied in terms of purpose and is a descriptive-analytical type of research method, and it is done using SWOT and SDM strategic planning models. The findings of the research, while identifying the influential variables including 5 strengths, 5 weaknesses, 16 threats and 12 opportunities, finally suggest a defensive strategy as the foreign policy strategy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In the meantime, based on the three factors of feasibility, acceptability and appropriateness (compatibility) of the sub-strategy, "strengthening cultural relations in a transparent manner and avoiding sensitive cultural activities" has been given the first priority.