Defense diplomacy strategies of the Islamic Republic of Iran with emphasis on the role of the Navy

The naval forces, as a major part of naval military power, play an unmatched role in advancing their country's defense diplomacy. The presence of military vessels in international waters, the contacts and visits to ports of other countries are effective tools in securing objectives and realizing strategies of maritime defense diplomacy. The present paper aims to develop strategies for defense diplomacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran based on naval military power and is considered as an application-development research. The research method is a descriptive-analytical method with a mixed approach and the method of collecting data is field and book based. The statistical population of the study was selected from experts in the field of diplomacy, defense and naval military power of 80 people. Also, for validation and interview, 12 people from the statistical population were referred as the chosen experts. The sampling method is classified, purposeful and the sampling tool is question, interview and sample size is all counted. Strategies derived from the research are 9 macro strategies that have been evaluated using quantitative strategic planning matrix. In this paper, maritime defense diplomacy development strategy is categorized in the highest priority and optimal use of capacity and geopolitical position of the country in the lowest priority