The impact of Iranian foreign policy on current transatlantic relations

The Islamic Republic of Iran is often publicly portrayed as a subject that endangers international order and global peace. Long-term tensions between Iran and the USA and other important regional powers are not making the international image of Iran any better either. For most people, Iran is a country that should be feared. The aim of this bachelor’s thesis is therefore to present a different point of view of Iranian foreign policy that is distinct from the majority West-centric approach that we can encounter in the media or in the academic sphere. Another goal of this thesis is to find out whether Iranian foreign policy is seeking to influence international regional and global politics and if it has potential to influence the form of transatlantic relations. The incomprehension of the Iranian foreign policy by the transatlantic powers or maybe even calculated misinterpretation of Iranian foreign policy approaches by the EU and the USA is creating significant tensions on the international level, which stirs up more political and military conflict that has potential to influence global affairs. It remains an open question if Iran truly is the „villain“ on the international scene or if there is the same amount of rationality in its activites as in the activities of his Western counterparts.