GPTT International Department hosted a roundtable on June 26 to discuss the direction of the next Iranian president’s foreign policy, attending four distinguished experts. Abolfazl Zohrevand, a former diplomat maintained that the people’s purchase power will only enhance with “correct stabilization of Iran’s position in the world,” through regionalism. He suggested that since Donald Trump will likely be the next US president, Iran needs to quickly adjust its relations with Russia and China to the detriment of Israel.

Seyed Jalal Dehghani Firouzabadi, a professor of international relations while acknowledging that the international system is moving towards regionalism, stated that in this historic opportunity, Iran enjoys “strategic autonomy.” He emphasized that Iran needs a president who can create a domestic consensus on foreign policy and believe in the grand discourse of the Islamic Republic. Ali Fekri, the head of the Iranian Organization for Investment and Economic Aids mentioned that in foreign policy, there is a need to increase scenario-writing ability and timely decision-making. On the other hand, the gap between decision-making and implementation should be reduced.

Sasan Karimi, a foreign policy researcher pointed out that in the “post-polar world” ad-hoc alliances have replaced permanent ones, and stressed that having very limited options has made Iran a “cheap partner.” According to him, while Iran’s economy did not collapse under “the maximum pressure,” its development has halted.