Diplomatic Interactions

Diplomatic Interactions

A Study of the Foreign Relations and Diplomatic Interactions of the Islamic Republic of Iran towards Russia during the Hashemi Rafsanjani era based on the Theory of Neoclassical Realism

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Ruhollah Talebi Arani 1
Rouhollah Souri 2
1 Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
2 PhD Student, Department of International Relations, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/dpiq.2026.575993.1076
Abstract
Introduction
Hashemi Rafsanjani's rise to power coincided with important domestic and foreign developments. Globally, the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union were the most important changes. Domestically, the end of the Iran-Iraq War and the beginning of Ayatollah Khamenei's leadership created new conditions. In this atmosphere, Hashemi Rafsanjani's government paid attention to cooperative relations with Russia, especially in the military, nuclear, and political-economic fields. After the war, Iran began purchasing Russian warplanes and received about $1.9 billion in military equipment from Russia from 1990 to 1993. It also made nuclear agreements to complete the Bushehr power plant and numerous political cooperations with Russia.
Literature Review
The works that analyze Iran's foreign policy during the Hashemi Rafsanjani era are divided into three categories: first, our research focuses on domestic factors; second, studies that emphasize external factors; third, works that examine both categories. Masoud Mousavi Shafaei and Hajar Ardestani analyze the role of the middle class in the foreign policy of this period in an article and emphasize the priority of economic development, but there are shortcomings in not considering other domestic variables. Also, Ruhollah Ramezani, in his book, considers the change in foreign policy to be influenced by domestic factors and the change in decision-makers, and points to the joint role of Ayatollah Khamenei and Hashemi Rafsanjani. Amir Mohammad Haji Yousefi claims in his article that the change in the international system after the collapse of the Soviet Union has led Iran towards pragmatism in foreign policy. He believes that the new structure of the regime affected Iran's foreign policy between 1991 and 2000, and the change from bipolar to unipolar has caused the Islamic Republic to reconsider its approaches.
Methodology
This study has attempted to analyze Iran's cooperative foreign policy toward Russia during the presidency of Hashemi Rafsanjani by identifying systemic variables at the system level and intervention variables at the domestic level. Based on the findings of this study, Iran's foreign policy toward Russia during the aforementioned period was guided by a set of systemic variables and intervention variables, such that domestic variables, as mediator variables, shaped the perception of Iranian leaders of the international system, and this perception ultimately led to Iran's foreign policy toward Russia.
Results
The study of "The policy and diplomatic interactions of the Islamic Republic of Iran towards Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union during the presidency of Hashemi Rafsanjani" requires the selection and application of an appropriate theoretical framework in order to explain and elucidate the precise relationship between the dependent variable and the independent variables. Since the theory of "neoclassical realism" has a better ability to explain the subject due to its comprehensiveness and more detailed method in examining foreign policy, due to not being limited to independent variables and opening up space for other variables under the title of "intervening variables", this theory was chosen as the analytical framework of the present study. The analysis of Iran's foreign relations towards Russia within the framework of the theory of neoclassical realism involved identifying three categories of variables including systemic variables, intervening variables and dependent variables, which were examined in this study. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Islamic Republic of Iran, while continuing military relations with Russia, whose history dates back to the final years of the Soviet Union, also began cooperation on the nuclear issue, and at the political level, it prioritized cooperation with Russia in Central Asia and economic relations with the former Soviet republics. The question raised in this study was why Iran's foreign relations towards Russia during this period were a policy of cooperation and with an emphasis on the economy.
Conclusion
Neoclassical realism theory states that Iranian leaders’ perception of the international environment, influenced by their image, leads to foreign policy behavior. During the Hashemi Rafsanjani administration, the collapse of the Soviet Union was one of the most important variables that led to opportunities and threats for the Islamic Republic. Ayatollah Khamenei saw the collapse as an opportunity to eliminate the hostility of the communist bloc and the Islamic awakening. In contrast, Hashemi Rafsanjani saw it as an opportunity to cooperate with Russia in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Their different views of the international system and the impact of previous policies were effective in shaping their approaches to global developments. The ideological view of Iranian leaders on the collapse of the Soviet Union included dimensions such as concern about American power in the region and uncertainty about the future of the international system. Cooperation with Russia was seen as a way to reduce American influence and its threats. Also, the Hashemite government's freedom of action, resulting from elite consensus, helped advance policies of cooperation with Russia.
Keywords
Foreign relations
Diplomatic interactions
Collapse of the Soviet Union
Neoclassical realism
Systemic variables
Interventionist
Subjects
احتشامی، انوشیروان (1385). گذار از بحران جانشینی، ترجمه زهره پوستین چی و ابراهیم متقی، تهران: نشر قومس.
ازغندی، علیرضا (1378). تنش‌زدایی در سیاست خارجی، مورد: جمهوری اسلامی ایران 1367 تا 1378، سیاست خارجی، 13(4).
اسدی، علی‌اکبر (1389). رئالیسم و رویکردهای رقیب به سیاست خارجی، راهبرد، 19(56)، 252-223
آهار، لیلا (1399). فرآیند عمل ایده‌ها در کنشگری دولت‌ها در نظام بین‌الملل؛ مطالعه موردی: مذاکرات هسته‌ای ایران با قدرت‌های بزرگ (1394-1382). رساله دکتری، دانشگاه علامه طباطبایی، تهران
باقری دولت آبادی، علی و ابراهیمی، حسین (1395). توسعه محوری در دولت سازندگی و الزامات آن برای سیاست خارجی ایران، دولت پژوهی، مجله دانشکده حقوق و علوم سیاسی، 2(6)، 173-133.
پایگاه اطلاع رسانی دفتر حفظ و نشر آثار حضرت آیت‌الله العظمی سیدعلی خامنه‌ای به نشانی : https://farsi.khamenei.ir
حاج زرگر باشی، سید روح الله، محمدی، سبحان و مکرمی‌پور، محمد باقر (1402). تداوم و تغییر در روابط ایران و روسیه؛ نگاهی از منظر روند نگاری. تعاملات دیپلماتیک، 1(4), 117-155. doi: 10.22034/dpiq.2023.195090
حاجی یوسفی، امیرمحمد (1381). نظریه والتز و سیاست خارجی ایران، سیاست خارجی، 16(4).
حاجی یوسفی، امیرمحمد (1383). تهدیدات امنیتی منطقه‌ای ایران پس از جنگ سرد: پیامدها و پاسخ‌ها، سیاست خارجی،18(3)، 650-611.
خنیفر، حسین، مسلمی، ناهید (1401). اصول و مبانی روش‌های پژوهش کیفی، تهران:انتشارات نگاه دانش.
رمضانی، روح الله (1384). چارچوبی تحلیلی برای بررسی سیاست خارجی جمهوری اسلامی ایران، ترجمه علیرضا طیب،نشر نی.
صادقی، احمد (1378). علل توسعه روابط ایران و روسیه پس از فروپاشی شوروی، پایان نامه دوره کارشناسی ارشد، دانشگاه امام صادق، تهران.
قاسمی، حاکم، سرابی، لیلا (1392). حضور آمریکا در منطقه خلیج فارس و ترتیبات امنیتی در این منطقه، همایش ملی خلیج فارس. SID. https://sid.ir/paper/881279/fa
کرمی، جهانگیر (1389). روابط ایران و روسیه در سال های 1368 تا 1388‌: بسترها، عوامل و محدودیت‌ها، مطالعات اوراسیای مرکزی، مرکز مطالعات عالی بین‌المللی، دانشکده حقوق و علوم سیاسی، 3(6)، 111- 136.
کولایی، الهه و عفیفه عابدی (1396). فراز و فرود روابط ایران و روسیه 1990-2016، مطالعات روابط بین الملل، 10(40)، 135-164.
موسوی شفائی، مسعود و حجر اردستانی (1393). نقش طبقه متوسط در سیاست خارجی جمهوری اسلامی ایران، سیاست خارجی، 28(2)، 263-237.
موسوی، سیدرضا (1387). اولویت سیاست خارجی ایران در دوره سازندگی، راهبرد، 47(1).
نوریان، اردشیر و احمدی، مرتضی (1404). بحران اوکراین 2022 و روابط دیپلماتیک ایران و روسیه. تعاملات دیپلماتیک، 3(10), 79-116. doi: 10.22034/dpiq.2025.540040.1049
هانتر، شیرین (1400). سیاست خارجی ایران در دوران بعد از فروپاشی شوروی، ترجمه: سیدجلال دهقانی فیروزآبادی، تهران، نشر میزان.
یعقوبی،سعید (1387). سیاست خارجی جمهوری اسلامی ایران در دوران سازندگی، تهران: انتشارات مرکز اسناد انقلاب اسلامی.
 
References
Ehteshami, Anoushiravan, (2002), After Khomeini the Iranian Second Republic, Taylor & Francis e-Library.
Ehteshami, Anoushiravan, (2014). “The Foreign Policy of Iran” In R. A. Hinnebusch, & A. Ehteshami (Eds.), The foreign policies of Middle East states (283-309). Lynne Rienner.
Eisenstadt, Michael(2001),” Russian Arms and Technology Transfers to Iran:Policy Challenges for the United States, https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2001-03/iran-nuclear-briefs/russian-arms-technology-technologytransfers-iranpolicy-challenges-united 
Ekedahl, C., Goodman, M. (1993). The Soviet Union and Iraq’s Invasion of Kuwait. In: Hollis, R. (eds) The Soviets, Their Successors and the Middle East. RUSI Defence Studies Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22968-0_4
Freedman, Robert O. (1997),” RUSSIA AND IRAN: A TACTICAL ALLIANCE,” SAIS Review (1989-2003)/Vol. 17, No. 2 (Summer-Fall 1997), pp. 93-109 (17 pages)/Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press/https://www.jstor.org/stable/45345742.
Herzig, E. (2004). Regionalism, Iran and Central Asia. International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-), 80(3), 503–517. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3569022
Iran & Russia: Burgeoning Military Ties,(2023), https://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2023/may/18/iran-russia-burgeoning-military-ties
Maleki,Abbas,(2008),” Iran and Russia: neighbours without common borders”, https://www.academia.edu/68756342/12_Iran_and_Russia_neighbours_without_common_borders
Moore, Eric D (2014), “Russia–Iran Relations Since the End of the Cold War”, Published in association with the Sheikh Nasser al- Mohammad al- Sabah Programme at Durham University/by Routledge.
Parker, John W. (2009), Persian dreams: Moscow and Tehran since the fall of the Shah, Potomac Books, Inc Washington, D.C.
Rasoulinezhad, Ehsan & Liudmila Popova. (2017), “An Estimation of the Impact of Economic Sanctions and Oil Price Shocks On Iran-Russian trade: Evidence from a Gravity- VEC approach”, Iran. Econ. Rev. Vol. 21, No. 3, 2017. pp. 469-497.
Ripsman, Norrin M., Taliaferro, Jeffrey W.& Steven E. Lobell, (2016), Neoclassical Realist Theory of International Politics, Oxford University Press.
Rose, Gideon, (1998),"Neoclassical Realism and Theories of Foreign Policy"World Politics, Vol. 51, No. 1 (Oct., 1998), pp. 144-172.
Sarmadi H, Badri M (2017) “Factors of Changing Iran’s Foreign Policy Approach of Idealism to Pragmatism: The First and Second Decade of the Islamic Revolution”. Journal of Civil & Legal Science. doi: 10.4172/2169-0170.1000231.
Taliaferro, Jeffrey W. (2006)" State Building for Future Wars: Neoclassical Realism and the Resource-Extractive State", Security Studies, 15:3, 464-495.
TAROCK, ADAM, (1997),” Iran and Russia in ` strategic alliance”, Third World Quarterly, Vol 18, No 2, pp 207- 223.