The Iranian Association of International Studies International Relations Researches 2251-8444 15 1 2025 04 21 Geographical bottlenecks and identity structures in Iran's foreign policy Geographical bottlenecks and identity structures in Iran's foreign policy 67 88 213728 10.22034/irr.2025.434607.2492 FA Ruhollah Eslami Assistant Professor of Political Science, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Ferdowsi University, Mashhad, Iran Fatemeh Daneshvar PhD student in Political Science, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran 0000-0002-6276-9160 Journal Article 2024 01 08 One of the issues that is considered from a constructive point of view regarding Iran's regional policies is the issue of identity. From the perspective of constructivism, it is the identity of the governments that shapes the interests and behavior of the governments. And regional policies find differences depending on which elements of identity are highlighted and what kind of discourse governs foreign policy. Among the inter-religious communities that have played a role in the identification of the government and the pursuit of Iran's regional policies, we can mention the nationalism of the Pahlavi era and the Shia ideology during the Islamic Republic of Iran, which discourses and orientations It created different issues for foreign policy. But despite the different identityism, in the case of regional policies, the strategy that has always been the focus and use of decision-makers is the strategy of balancing identity. The basic question of this article is "What factor has been effective on the use of identity balance in Iran's regional policies?" According to the findings, it seems that despite the different identitarianism of the governments in Iran, the geopolitical factor has caused Iran to always seek to establish a balance of identity in regional policies. One of the issues that is considered from a constructive point of view regarding Iran's regional policies is the issue of identity. From the perspective of constructivism, it is the identity of the governments that shapes the interests and behavior of the governments. And regional policies find differences depending on which elements of identity are highlighted and what kind of discourse governs foreign policy. Among the inter-religious communities that have played a role in the identification of the government and the pursuit of Iran's regional policies, we can mention the nationalism of the Pahlavi era and the Shia ideology during the Islamic Republic of Iran, which discourses and orientations It created different issues for foreign policy. But despite the different identityism, in the case of regional policies, the strategy that has always been the focus and use of decision-makers is the strategy of balancing identity. The basic question of this article is "What factor has been effective on the use of identity balance in Iran's regional policies?" According to the findings, it seems that despite the different identitarianism of the governments in Iran, the geopolitical factor has caused Iran to always seek to establish a balance of identity in regional policies. https://www.iisajournals.ir/article_213728_8d7a9e6ffd625898b418ed49f38801d7.pdf