Iran's Policy Difficulties with the Middle East Countries (Case Study with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Turkey from 2012 to 2021)

The purpose of the present article is to examine the difficulties that make Iran's policy towards some of its neighbors difficult. Understanding these difficulties can help Iran's interaction and policy-making with its neighboring countries. In this article, by accepting quantitative assumptions, Iran's policy challenges with its three neighboring countries, namely Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Bahrain, are examined and the factors influencing Iran's policy with these three countries are studied. The research strategy is deductive, applied case study, and static measurement. The findings indicate that competition over energy exports, the presence and influence of foreign agents in the region, geopolitical rivalries and countries' efforts to revive their empire in the region and the ideological conflict between Iran and its neighbors in the region and declining economic relations are among the factors that have led to ups and downs in Iran's relations with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Turkey, and in some cases have led to the darkening of Iran's relations with these countries. Finally, it can be said that a combination of factors related to energy, geopolitics of religion and ideology, and regional rivalries has led to the ups and downs of Iran's relations with its neighbors, and has made Iran's policy-making with these countries difficult.