The Iranian Studies Unit at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies hosted Mandana Tishehyar, Professor of Asian Studies at Allameh Tabataba’i University in Tehran, Iran, where she also serves as Vice President for Research, on 4 June 2025. The speaker gave a lecture titled “Iran’s New Geopolitical Features”, in which she explored how Iran’s strategic position, bilateral relations, and foreign policy have evolved in response to the changing geopolitical dynamics in the Middle East and beyond.

Tishehyar emphasized that while various key players like governments, parliaments, media, military, and scholars shape a country’s political affairs, “geopolitics is more stable” than these shifting factors. However, Tishehyar argued, recent developments have affected the geopolitics of the region.

The expert introduced the concept of redefining “region” from its traditional meaning as recent developments have altered the geopolitics of Iran. She argued that Iran’s foreign policy is constantly shaped by changing regional geopolitics; therefore, a fixed geographic boundary becomes limiting to the ever-changing politics on the ground. A “region”, Tishehyar argued, is now seen as less defined and more of a multilateral framework that is based on culture, identity, and shared interests.

Tishehyar explained that recent regional crises – such as the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the Russia-Ukraine crisis, and Israel’s war on Gaza – have had a direct effect on Iran’s geopolitical environment. As a result, Tehran has moved towards a new form of “neo-regionalism” that, as Tishehyar argued, can be seen in its multilateral agreements including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Eurasian Economic Union, and BRICS. “Iran is trying to define its foreign policy in a new level of geopolitical collaboration with different countries,” she explained.

In this case, she argued, regions are no longer rigid and geographically defined features; rather, “region is what we perceive, not necessarily what is defined on the map.” This helps better contextualize the concept of geopolitics and provides a better understanding of Iran’s increasingly changing foreign policy.