Most of the discourses on India–Iran relations are either focused on cultural and civilization links with Iran, or its relevance as an energy-rich nation. Its transit potential in providing India with access to Central Asia has not received adequate attention. While there is a general acceptance that Iran provides India with access to Central Asia, what is little known and thus not analysed is the question: to what extent has India been able to realise Iran's transit potential and what are the major bilateral, regional and international challenges faced by both of these countries for realising that potential? The hypothesis is; Due to its growing economy and the increasing need for energy and access to energy sources and markets in central Asia and Afghanistan, India competes with China and Pakistan on the International North-South transport corridor, which is way more reliable and less costly.Now given its potential and special position, Iran is India’s gateway to reach its goals in Eurasia and Afghanistan. The article argues that despite Iran's geostrategic location as well as regional complexities, the Iran–US standoff, security challenges and lack of adequate economic resources, constrain India's efforts to maximise the potential offered by the INSTC land, sea and rail routes connecting India to the Eurasian region through Iran. A new thrust by all regional partners supported by international agencies to revive old links and build new INSTC corridors therefore becomes necessary.

Saudi Arabia has intensified its competition with Iran to an all-out confrontation since the downfall of Saddam Hussain in Iraq in 2003. This confrontation has become more severe during the revolutionary developments in the Middle East starting from 2011;particularly after the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action by Iran and the 5+1 countries. In view of the above mentioned, the main questions here are as follows: What are the reasons and motivations for Riyadh to adopt a confrontational approach vis-à-vis Iran? What are the measures Saudi Arabia has taken to confront Iran? And what are the policies that Saudis have adopted to keep balance against Iran? This paper has used the “motivational realism” theory and the concept of the “greedy actor” to hypothesize that Saudi Arabia has tilted toward an aggressive policy against Iran in order to find an exit from its traditional status quo foreign policy in different regional areas, as well asto fill the power vacuum in the Arab World after the revolutionary developments that hit some Arab countries. Aligning with the United States in the Middle East is last but not least of these motivations. Driven by such motivations, the kingdom has taken a number of measures and has adopted policies against Iran, including coalition and consensus building, softening relations with Israel, using energy and economic leverages, making use of the capacities of regional and international organizations, intensifying arms races, using the capacities of the holy sites of Mecca and Medina and finally fomenting sectarian tensions.

Abundance of cellar springs, ethnic and religious pluralism and exclusive status on the one hand, political- economic crispy, cultural clashes and confluence of regional and trans-regional powers on the other hand have identified the Middle East as an endless region in the world. In other words, transcendence of power politics, utilitarianist and interest-oriented calculations has shown the Middle East as an area of diverse admixture. In this situation, based upon interest-oriented and national rationality, regional and transregional powers are trying to design the security geometry of the Middle Eastsubsystem. Indeed, the presence of trans-regional actors and regional powers attempting to map the region’s security has transformed the Middle East as a pole of the world’s security- political exchanges. This paper attempts to probe the security approaches of Iran, the USA and the EU as regional and trans-regional actors towards the Middle East.

What are the political and legal issues between Iran and Canada? What are the grounds for their formation and continuation? Are there any solutions for them? This paper studies the political and legal issues between Iran and Canada and presents some possible solutions for them. The author hypothesizes that the formation of legal issues between Iran and Canada is rooted in political issues between the two countries and therefore their resolution is also dependent on the resolution of political issues. Despite this, the political and legal issues between the two countries are so interwoven that their absolute separation and prescription of distinct solutions for each of them is impossible. Here, I explore the political and historical context of the two countries relations and recognize three main factors that have led to the formation of sever political issues between the two countries. These three factors are: idealism in the two countries foreign policies and their ideological link to domestic politics, the role third parties have played and finally the politicians’ radicalism. The major legal issues between Iran and Canada at a bilateral level are: imposition of unilateral sanctions, removal of state immunity and Canada’s domestic judicial decisions against Iran. On the international level, the legal issues between Iran and Canada include international sanctions related to the Iranian nuclear energy dossier and issues pertaining to human rights and terrorism. After a thorough explanation of these factors, I have concluded that there are some solutions for the existing problems between Iran and Canada that can be classified as the rebuilding and establishing of political relations, improving economic and trade interactions, and enhancing scientific and cultural cooperation.

The main objective of this article is to study the status Iran and Pakistan occupy in Chinese military cooperation arrangements and the imprints these relations leave on the foreign policy orientations of China in light of the strategic power equations. Examining the trend of China’s military relations with regional powers within the last few years, particularly subsequent to activation of China’s foreign policy in South and West Asia, I seek to answer these primary questions related to the two countries of Pakistan and Iran, which have priority in Chinese military strategy. I also address the consequences of Iran and Pakistan’s military cooperation with China in regional and inter-regional power equations. I contend that China’s military relations with Pakistan have been on the rise to the level of strategic cooperation or even alliance, while Iran has lagged behind in ascending to such levels. The data provided by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute are used extensively in this research besides some other archival data.