The Islamic Republic of Iran with regard to the special geographic and geo-strategicposition at the crossroads of Central Asia, West and South Asia, with its infrastructure and transportation capacity and features, aims in the national level the economic boom by attracting foreign investment, and seeks stability, security and development of their surrounding areasat the regional level.
Meanwhile, China has proposed an innovative "Belt- Road Initiative" as a comprehensive regional plan that covers 65 countries and has multiple and various trade-economic, scientific-cultural and even geopolitical and security dimensions which can have wide range consequences in the region.The purpose of thisgrand plan has been announced as the development of countries between the eastern and western borders of Eurasia by facilitating regional cooperation and infrastructural development and with respect to the mechanisms which have been defined for achieving this goal, it seemsto have the capacity to fulfill these goals.
The main research question is how couldChina's Belt- RoadInitiativeinfluenceIran'snational interests- at both domestic and regional levels?This article intends to investigate how this initiative would affect regional cooperation process through the lens of regionalism theory and by explanatory- analytical method and its potential benefits and risks for the Islamic Republic of Iran.The hypothesis is that the Belt- Road Initiative through the expansion of trade and cultural infrastructure in the region and contributing to the development and security of the region,is of the capacity to maintain economic and geopolitical interests of Iran at the national level and the regional level.
This article is to describe the objectives, motivations, opportunities and challenges of this initiative, the areas of impact on Iran and its alignment with the national interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran.