Critical rereading of the nuclear policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran; An explanation from the perspective of the strategic thinking model

Sharafi Sadrabadi, Mehran; Arghavani Pirsalami, Fariborz

doi:10.22059/jcountst.2025.402181.1357

Critical rereading of the nuclear policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran; An explanation from the perspective of the strategic thinking model

Document Type : Original

Authors

Mehran Sharafi Sadrabadi

Fariborz Arghavani Pirsalami

Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.

10.22059/jcountst.2025.402181.1357

Abstract

Without a doubt, the Iranian nuclear file has been the most important area of foreign policy in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s history; the extension of more than two decades and the hostage-taking of other policy areas, including defense-security, economic, and social, are the reasons for this importance. This study, to explain the damages of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear policy, critically rereads its four key periods. The central question of the article is what implications a critical reading of Iran’s nuclear policy from the perspective of strategic thinking provides? To this end, the research was conducted using qualitative historical-critical analysis and data, including speeches, interviews with officials, and previous research literature. Therefore, this article, relying on the two main elements of strategic thinking in the form of a theoretical discussion that is a combination of “strategic rationality” and “dynamic adaptation”, claims that the main problem in Iran’s nuclear policy is not the complete lack of strategic rationality or dynamic adaptation, but the simultaneous deficiency of these two components and the inability to create sustainable interaction between them. The findings show that this inability to create sustainable interaction has manifested itself at two levels: at the cognitive level, policies have been overly reliant on intuition and ideology, and at the operational level, they have lacked institutional learning mechanisms, which has led to the repetition of errors and the instability of achievements. The research ultimately provides solutions for breaking the cycle of crisis reproduction.

Keywords

foreign policy

nuclear policymaking

strategic rationality

strategic thinking

Subjects

International Relations

حوزة موضوعی: ایران، آمریکا، اروپا

Scope: Iran, Europe, USA

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