{"id":10054,"date":"2022-02-17T21:04:23","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T18:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/?p=10054"},"modified":"2022-03-09T15:01:57","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T12:01:57","slug":"rasanah-issues-its-annual-strategic-report-for-2021%ef%bf%bc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/news\/rasanah-issues-its-annual-strategic-report-for-2021%ef%bf%bc\/","title":{"rendered":"Rasanah Issues Its\u00a0 Annual Strategic Report for 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The International Institute for Iranian Studies (Rasanah) has issued the sixth edition of its Annual Strategic Report for 2021.  The 264-page report has continued to be published over the past five years. The first edition was published  in December 2016. The report is based on  the analysis of information,  and supported by tables, tallies and charts \u2014 along with monitoring, forecasting  and analysis of events. The 2021 report reflects Rasanah\u2019s widening scope with the in-depth analysis of several key  international developments.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021 report sheds light on international variables within the context of the ongoing   US-China rivalry and  European efforts to preserve their position in the global order  given their strategic alliance with the United States.  Furthermore, the report addresses the impact  of the coronavirus pandemic on global and regional powers, particularly its ramifications related to energy shortages and price hikes.   In the context of the Middle Eastern landscape,  the report  shines a spotlight on  the  numerous events that took place as a result of the  change in the US administration and its adoption of new policies which impacted the region.   For example,  the report points to the retreat of Daesh  in Iraq, Syria, the Sinai Peninsula and the Maghreb and  its attempts to expand its presence in Africa. Finally, the report  reveals what has been happening in Iran, its internal transformations, and its relationship with Arab countries and the  international community. At the ideological level, the report  explains the Iranian government\u2019s ongoing attempts  to enhance its legitimacy at home through employing religion and taking advantage of fatwas (religious edicts) to counter the calls to boycott the presidential election, in addition to defaming its  political opponents. At the social level,  the report  highlights the doubling of poverty in Iran,  the multiple coronavirus waves, and  the rise  of other social dangers in the country. At the economic level,  the report  touches on the deteriorating  economic situation, although there has been  a slight improvement driven by the surge in oil sales to China and the growth of foreign trade. At the military level,  the report  indicates that Iran is continuing to seek to acquire military technologies and equipment  through criminal activities  and the black market to support its \u201cforward defense\u201d doctrine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In relation to  Arab affairs, the report  analyzes the Gulf states\u2019 goodwill toward Iran and the trajectory of Iran-Gulf relations which were marked by approximations aimed to defuse tensions in the region.   On the Yemeni front, the report discusses  the developments regarding the ongoing  crisis, the Houthi escalation against the governorate of Ma\u2019rib and Iran\u2019s provision of massive military support to the militia.  On the Iraqi front,  the report sheds  light on the challenges facing  Iranian influence at the military, economic and cultural levels.  Iranian influence at the political level declined significantly following the outcomes of the recent parliamentary election.   In relation to Syria, the report  reviews the political developments impacting Iran\u2019s  presence and  role in the country, before moving on to Lebanon. The Lebanese file  discusses Lebanese  government formation,  the fuel shortage and the impact of  Iran and its proxy Hezbollah on both issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding international affairs,  the  report addresses  the radical shift in  US relations with Iran.  Washington\u2019s new strategy toward Iran is based on  diplomacy as the key tool to revive the nuclear deal and  ease tensions between Tehran and the region\u2019s countries. Furthermore,  the report reviews Russia-Iran  cooperation and Moscow\u2019s support for Tehran in the nuclear talks, calling for US sanctions on Tehran to be lifted.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rasanah\u2019s report   indicates that Iran-Europe  relations experienced tensions  over the nuclear issue and Europe exerted pressure on Tehran in regard to  human rights abuses and its support for terror activities.  The report analyzes China\u2019s support  for Tehran amid the ongoing nuclear talks,  Beijing\u2019s support for  Tehran\u2019s nuclear industry, deepening cooperation between the two countries reflected in the  signing of the Strategic Cooperation Agreement, Tehran\u2019s accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the supply of coronavirus vaccines to Tehran.   The report also  touches on the intersection of relations between Iran and China, especially the latter\u2019s relations with Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The  report also indicates that  Iran-Turkey relations  faced issues that heightened their rivalry in Iraq \u2014 as well as the relative cooperation between the two sides to address the problem of Afghan refugees and the conflicting visions and interests of both actors in  Azerbaijan.  In relation to Pakistan, the report  details  Iran-Pakistan interactions which were impacted by the developments taking place in  Afghanistan and Azerbaijan. It also highlights Iranian efforts in light of the new  strategic realities resulting from the Russian-brokered ceasefire between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban taking over Kabul once again,  and the substantial changes to the Afghan political landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report  concludes by  forecasting the developments  in 2022 and the years to come as a result of the developments that occurred in 2021.  The report forecasts that  in 2022, there will be an  increase in  domestic transformations  in Iran, and the pace of its interactions  with the Arab countries and the international community will pick up in light of the nuclear talks entering their final stage \u2013  with the negotiating parties focusing on Tehran fully complying once again with its nuclear obligations.   The latter  will push Tehran to take tough decisions in the hope of getting the US sanctions lifted.  The lifting of sanctions will  impact the extent of China\u2019s support to Iran, particularly in the economic, military and technological fields. In turn, this support will impact  Beijing\u2019s other interests in the region. The report also forecasts that, whether Iran reduces or raises its estimated military  budget if  there is a breakthrough in the Vienna  talks, it will still face major difficulties on the frontlines in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. Moreover, the regional landscape\u2019s complexities, prompted by the Taliban taking over  power in Afghanistan, could cause Iran to face threats and dangers \u2014 coupled with the influential presence of regional rivals in Afghanistan.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here to read the ful<\/a>l report<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here to read the summary<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The International Institute for Iranian Studies (Rasanah) has issued the sixth edition of its Annual Strategic Report for 2021. \u00a0The 264-page report has continued to be published over the past five years. The first edition was published \u00a0in December 2016. The report is based on \u00a0the analysis of information,\u00a0 and supported by tables, tallies and charts \u2014 along with monitoring, forecasting \u00a0and analysis of events. The 2021 report reflects Rasanah\u2019s widening scope with the in-depth analysis of several key \u00a0international developments. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":10056,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2452,1],"tags":[3000,2475,12,2371,2362,705,1507,712,1106,1878,3053,2466,4433],"class_list":["post-10054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-annual-strategic-reports","category-news","tag-annual-strategic-reports","tag-international-institute-for-iranian-studies","tag-iran","tag-iran-protests","tag-iranian-government","tag-iranian-oil","tag-iranian-parliament","tag-iranian-people","tag-iranian-regime","tag-iranian-studies","tag-irans-economy","tag-rasanah","tag-the-coronavirus-in-iran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10054"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10127,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10054\/revisions\/10127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}