Following the presidential election in Iran, Ebrahim Ra'isi was elected as the new President-elect of Iran by a majority of votes.On the one hand, Iran's presidential election and its results affect the government's foreign and Regional policies.In many decision-making centers in Iran, the presidency is one of the most powerful positions in the country and plays an important role in shaping major policy decisions. The president plays an important role in key national security policies.(Photo quoted from Yahoo’s image)

 

On the other hand , Regional policy in Iran is not limited just to the executive branch. In practice, the president coordinates the executive apparatus within the framework of macro-policies, headed by the leadership. Therefore, the change of the president does not mean a major change in Iran's Regional policy, but we would witness a minimal and tactical change. In addition, other macro-structures such as the National Security Council, Iran’s Leader, etc., play a very important role in Iran's Regional policy.

 

At present, there is no sign that Tehran is moving away from supporting the revival of the nuclear deal.  But Ra'isi is expected to have a different approach toward Europe and the United States regarding how to deal with US sanctions, and resolve the remaining issues in the JCPOA negotiations.

 

In fact, Ra'isi is likely to be more inclined to strengthen cooperation with China, India, South-South cooperation, BRICS, non-aligned countries, and so on. In the regional dimension, he is expected to put more emphasis on the ‘Axis of Resistance’.

 

It seems that Raisi is more inclined to strengthen cooperation with China, India, South-South cooperation, UNHCR, non-aligned countries and so on. It is expected that strengthening Tehran's relations with Beijing and Moscow, will have an impact on increasing regional cooperation in the region.

 

In this regard, further support for Iran's full presence in the Eurasian Union, strengthen cooperation within the Shanghai framework, strengthen defense, military and security relations, expand cooperation on regional crises such as Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia, Syria, Afghanistan, etc. will be formed.

 

The extensive strengthening of current (low-volume) economic relations with non-aligned countries, the UN Security Council, Africa and Latin America, are also the other expected consequences.

 

Extensive strengthening of the current diplomatic and political relations with Region countries, countering the Western NATO‘s influence in Central Asia and the Middle East can also be considered more.

 

In the regional arena, the new government's priority could be to resolve disputes with Arab and Muslim governments in the Persian Gulf.  From this point of view, Priority will be given to communication with neighbors, and steps will likely be taken to reopen embassies between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the short term.

 

In the field of economic diplomacy, interaction with a population of over 600 million people in 15 neighboring countries of Iran is considered. Increasing the share of this amount of imports of neighbors (up to 1,200 billion dollars) would be considered as a priority by the new government. In addition, in formulating the foreign policy of the new government, the focus on economic and then cultural interaction, especially with countries in the region, is very important. At the same time, it seems that Iran's regional policy on Palestine, Israel, Yemen, regional issues and missiles will not change.

 

 

Farzad Ramezani Bonesh

Senior Researcher and Analyst of International Affairs

Related articles