نشریه سیاست دفاعی
پیاپی 85 (زمستان 1392)

Essentially, the strategic cycle is one of the most important variables that constitute any country’s defense system. It is this vey cycle that practically determines the type of strategic defense systems in any country. As for the powers and entities embedded in such a system that have particular characteristics like geopolitical, geo-cultural and geo-economic ones, they are definitely under the influence of such a cycle. Due to having geopolitical, geo-cultural and geo-economic characteristics, the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is one of the major powers of the region, faces different strategic threats. Due to the presence of trans-regional and interventionist powers in its subsidiary systems. Therefore, this research revolves around the question of how the IRI strategic cycle has its effects on its strategic defense system. In line with answering the above question, this research holds the belief that this strategic cycle will impose a networked indigenous strategic defense upon the Islamic Republic of Iran. While examining the regional networked strategic cycle of the Islamic Republic of Iran, this article presents a model for the networked indigenous strategic defense.

Iran’s position of being situated in the Middle East and the multifarious threats posed by the United States and Israel have caused the issue of providing security to turn into a critical issue for the Iranian authorities. The main question in this relation is “What measures have Iran’s deterrence strategy been grounded on in order to counter such threats, and how has it been functioning so far? To answer the above question, the main hypothesis addresses the role played by deterrence in meeting the country’s security by examining its most important measures in two aspects of deterrence, namely traditional and missile. So, the library method is used. The findings of this research indicate that despite all the efforts made to alienate Iran and arms embargo against it, this strategy has managed to counteract the military threats against Iran, hence these threats have come to have a software dimension in addition to the hardware dimension.

Considering the environmental uncertainty conditions and the conceivable military and security threats faced by the Islamic Republic of Iran which are different from the war conditions in the past in asymmetric environments, and despite the gross gap between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the adversary’s military forces in terms of military technology, this article was written as an applied-developmental research using an analytical-descriptive method via collecting data in a library style. Also, it has employed the author’s working and research backgrounds and expert views and experiences in this field. This process also included making a comparative study of the data collected, and explaining the fundamental considerations, rules and principles of ground battle with emphasis on total defense in proportion with the operational requirements of the possible future battlefield in an asymmetric battle environment. Answering the research question of “What are the fundamental considerations, rules and principles of ground battle?”, it found that the existing rules and principles of ground battle will not be able to fully meet the operational requirements in the possible future battlefield. It follows that it seems inevitably necessary to replace the ground battle doctrine with emphasis on total defense in territorial defense operations such as regional fixed defense, anti-heliborne defense, moving defense, night attacks, and especial operations with an approach to asymmetric warfare.

After the establishment of the Iraqi Kurdistan autonomous state in 1991, the downfall of Saddam's regime in 2003, and the passing of the Iraq Constitution, Turkish-Kurdistan relations underwent great tensions so that both parties started to threaten each other to war. However, Turkey sought to acquire economic interests through building up an extensive presence and to contain the Kurdish insurgents through cooperating with Iraqi Kurdistan. So, the present article tries to study the effects of Turkey’s foreign policy in the Iraqi Kurdistan upon the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran by adopting a descriptiveexplanatory approach. The findings of this research indicate that in the second decade of the life of the Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkey’s influence increased in that region which has had increasing effects upon IRI’s interests, one of which is the insecurity in the Western borders of the country as well as Iran’s failure in building alliance between the Kurds and the Shiites. As for the economic consequences, it should be noted that form 2009 on, Turkey has managed to surpass the Islamic Republic of Iran in economic activities, and to act more successfully.

The main aim of this research is to study the role played by the Islamic Republic of Iran in regional and transregional security. This research seeks to identify the major factors that affect how the Islamic Republic of Iran adopts policies regarding the regional and transregional security. So, this research uses Barry Buzan’s theory of regional security in order to document and better understand the subjects addressed in Iran’s security policy. His theory states that pro-Called war is not merely limited to military domain, but also covers a more extensive use of it which includes economic, social and environment dimensions together with its military dimension. This research addresses the security policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in two areas- both regional and transregional- in the Middle East, where Iran’s priorities in relation to security affairs are studied and analyzed on a case study basis.

The security challenges generated in the space by arming the space constitutes the most important threat posed to the space. Just like other countries, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been increasingly exposed to space threats due to the policies governing its foreign relations. This research tries to examine the effects, scope and dimensions of the threats posed by security challenges in the space by postulating such threats and their weakening effects on the IRI military and defense security. This writing analyzes space threats in two areas- hard and soft. The authors believe that space threats cause hardware damage to, and disruption in, the country’s defense systems in four strategic environments- namely ground, sea, air and space. In terms of software, the space threats have posed threats to the telecommunications infrastructures, the communications and TV broadcasting systems, strategic military and security locations and points, as well as in obtaining information about military maneuvers and defense preparations, obtaining information, using audio-visual tapping devices to hear military forces, psychological warfare and….in Iran. This research sets out to address the options for countering such threats by explaining and describing them through two theories, namely active space defense and space deterrence. In order to counter these threats, this writing presents a series of methods such as changing the country’s space strategy, acquiring space technology, convenient declaratory policy, creating unity and alliance, utilizing other strategic environments and increasing the number of satellites.

Based on America’s new national security, American military forces will mass in the Asia-Pacific area. The change in America’s continental approach from the Middle East to the Pacific has been influenced by several interconnected factors. The first factor originates from the qualitative development and the quantitative mitigation in the world’s military situations especially those of the United States. In fact, it is not only the geographical location that is changed, but that the nature and responsibilities of these forces are transformed as well according to the new doctrine of national security. The second factor relates to the necessity of establishing a new security-military multilateral alliance in order to contain and control the situation. In reality, a typical security belt will be stretched around China in order to contain the military and economic power of this country. The third factor is related to the failure in Washington’s interventionist strategiess in the Middle East area and North Africa. The increased role played by the traditional allies of America and the efforts made to prioritize the strategy of containment and sanctions in America’s foreign policy against the Islamic Republic of Iran can be cited as an implication of America’s decreased military presence in the region.