US Congress, as a legislative pillar of democracy, has a significant impact on American foreign policy. Nevertheless, the role of the US Congress is not limited to domestic politics rather they would usually shape US foreign policy. Since the Islamic revolution, US Congress has adopted an aggressive approach towards Iran. The US legislative institution, as a domestic source of US foreign policy, has shaped US foreign policy toward Iran by imposing economic sanctions. The purpose of the research is to increase the Iranian officials’ understanding of US domestic politics. Therefore, the main question of the research is: What is the impact of US congress on American foreign policy towards Iran (2005-2017)? In order to answer the main question, the authors would use neo-classical theory. In addition to systemic factors, neoclassic realism would consider domestic factors to explain foreign policy. The findings of research suggest that the US congress has encouraged US administrations to pursue an aggressive policy towards the Islamic Republic of Iran by imposing economic sanctions and by persuading the US administrations to implement them.

Syrian crisis could be perceived as the most important international crisis in the recent decade. Despite its extensively varied regional and international ramifications and repercussions, this crisis has changed Iran-Russia cooperation patterns in a more evident manner. Prior to the outbreak of crisis in Syria, Iran and Russia had limited, traditional cooperation at different junctures in Afghanistan, Tajikistan civil war and some regional issues in the Central Asia and the Caucasus. However, the new edition of Iran-Russia relations in Syria exhibits a new level of bilateral relations. As such, new Iran-Russia bilateral ties could be assessed within the framework of strategic partnership. Iran-Russia strategic partnership pattern has emerged in line with the three essential criteria of environmental uncertainty (popular uprisings in the Middle East), strategic fit (compatibility and complementarity of Iranian and Russian interests and resources) and the System principle (opposition to the US new hegemonic order and exercising efforts to institute a desired order in the Middle East). Compared to traditional patterns such as strategic alliance, thematicity and low commitment costs of the new pattern have encouraged Tehran and Moscow to pick it up. This paper attempts to answer this question: what mechanism underlies the development of Iran-Russia relations since the outbreak of Syrian crisis?

The Saudi Arabia's foreign policy against the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) as the dependent variable is affected by the factors and elements of domestic level and also by the factors and elements of macro structural level as independent variables. Meanwhile, the present study aims at clarifying the dialectics of structure factors (regional-international developments) and those at agent level (Saudi Arabia's domestic developments) in shaping the Saudi Arabia's aggressive foreign policy against Iran. The present study, by means of description-analysis and applying the theory of the dialectics of agent-structure seeks to explore the “roots of shaping the Saudi Arabia's aggressive foreign policy against the IRI in the interval of 2011-2013 and the concerned signals and proofs of the Saudi behavior” as a question. The outcome of the current paper suggests that the developments at the macro-structure level such as the international anarchy, the change of US strategy as a superpower, change in the order and balance between and among the regional powers after the Arabian revolutions in 2011 along with change at Saudi agent level, i.e. the rise of bin Salman's team as the offensive elites, led to the shaping of Saudi Arabia's aggressive foreign policy against Iran in 2011-2018. Admittedly, these developments at the macro-structure level along with the domestic ones in Saudi Arabia resulted in shaping the Saudi’s aggressive behavior against Iran in a bilateral equation. In the same vein, the proofs of this behavior against Iran at the two levels of structure and agent include the creation of military-security coalition, establishment of amicable relations with Israel, exertion of institutional pressures, economic war, media-propaganda war and endeavor to exacerbate the Iranian home agitations.

The developments of the international community over the past centuries and the relative turn from materialism and central security to culture-based discourse in the international system have highlighted the role of culture in various dimensions of human life and in the establishment of relations among countries. Accordingly, considering the existential nature of culture and its ability to bring about a convergence among nations and states, the role of culture has assumed great importance in country’s foreign policy. Boosing cultural diplomacy has a key role in establishing good relations and providing the grounds for greater mobility in political, economic, and social relations between countries. Today, experts in cultural diplomacy and foreign policy acknowledge that success in achieving national interests is largely contingent upon the employment of culture and cultural diplomacy in order to persuade public opinion. To this end, governments have regarded cultural diplomacy as an effective and important approach to maintain and develop mutual relationships; in this way, they provide the necessary grounds to develop relationships with one another. Iran and Japan are two important and decisive countries in global relations on both ends of the West and East Asia and are not an exception in this case. Indeed, they have always sought to opt for cultural policy making and embarked on maintaining and enhancing bilateral relationships, especially after the introduction of Iran's nuclear case and the imposition of comprehensive sanctions against Iran. Japan is today regarded as the third largest economic power in the world and is striving to play a major role in maintaining international peace and security. This country was already considered a military and colonial power in the early twentieth century; however, it has attempted to shift its strength from the military arena to the economic and cultural spheres and to help in the realization of international understanding and peace by developing cultural diplomacy after failure in the World War II and undergoing abundant restrictions on part of the conquerors of the war. As a country with cultural and civilizational richness, Iran has always sought to have friendly and peaceful relations with other countries (in various scopes, i.e. politics, economics, etc.) through its Iranian-Islamic culture and civilization in order to both help develop its own rich culture and benefit from it to expand its relations with other countries. This important issue has been at play throughout Iranian history and has undergone innumerable ups and downs depending on the circumstances. The realization of the Islamic Revolution, the outbreak of the imposed war, the introduction of Iran's nuclear case, the imposition of comprehensive sanctions, and, ultimately, the introduction of Iran as a so-called country that violates international peace and threatens security have all made the statesmen pursue cultural diplomacy as a top priority and use the cultural and civilization approach to confront Iranophobia and Islamophobia. In this way, Iran has tried to maintain and expand its relations with other countries, including Japan. The main question of this paper is concerned with the ways in which cultural diplomacy can affect the maintenance and development of political and economic relations between Iran and Japan following the incidence of Iran's nuclear program and the imposition of comprehensive sanctions against Iran. The main hypothesis held by the current authors is that Iran and Japan have attempted to mitigate the negative atmosphere and keep the communication channels open in order to maintain and expand bilateral political and economic relation by adopting cultural diplomacy during the sanction period.

The relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia have always been based on tension, political misunderstandings and on some occasions, a kind of limited détente. At present (early 2019) most researchers employ the term “cold war” to describe the nature of this relationship. This situation has deteriorated after the Syrian crisis (since 2011), the reign of King Salman and his son, especially when Donald Trump arrived in White House. This paper, by using the neoclassical realism theory, seeks to explain the question of what represent the leading causes of Tehran-Riyadh hostility from Iranian viewpoint and what prospects can be drawn for it. The findings suggest that the causes of this hostility can be analyzed at the domestic, regional and transnational levels. As long as Riyadh perceives Iran as a threat to its survival, Trump and Mohammed bin Salman remain in power, Riyadh's internal concerns stay in place, and no strategic shifting happen from Saudi side (for example, alliance with Russia), the tension in Tehran-Riyadh relations will continue. The method used by the authors in this research is descriptive-analytic, and it is more focused on how Tehran interprets the deep reasons for this hostility.

Today, foreign investment is one of the most sophisticated financing sources in the world. Most of the countries are seeking to attract these resources by creating political and legal reforms. Political factors are very influential on the attraction of foreign investment. In early 2001, by adoption of Foreign Investment Protection Act; Iran has been struggling to attract foreign investment in the country. In this regard, Germany was one of the most important partner and target country for Iran. During 1997 to 2017, there were some fluctuation in trend of German investment into Iran, due to various political components, including US policy, Israeli and Middle Eastern peace processes, terrorism and human rights. The 1997 to 2004 when the political tensions were at the lowest level, the German investment in Iran were at the best position. It brings about the question: what factor serve a basis for the political economy of German FDI in Iran? The hypothesized: the fluctuation in trend of German investment in Iran is a sequent of various components including US policy, Israeli and Middle Eastern peace processes, terrorism and human rights. The method of research is explanatory with citing to statistics and analyzing the trend of German investments in last 20 years. We will consider the influence of political component on the FDI of German companies during the presidency of Khatami, Ahmadinejad and Rouhani especially after the US withdraws from JCPOA.