The Position of the United States in the Emerging New World Order and Its Implications for the Islamic Republic of Iran

Abstract

With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the transition from the bipolar system at the end of the Cold War, the international community came under a new order and system that was fundamentally different from the previous one. This order, which was accompanied by the United States’ efforts to establish a unipolar system, has gradually been challenged by the emergence of other major powers such as China and Russia, as well as middle powers like the Islamic Republic of Iran. These developments have raised serious doubts regarding the sustainability of the existing order.

In light of the various transformations, challenges, and opportunities ahead, the fundamental question arises: What is the position of the United States in the emerging new world order, and what consequences, challenges, and opportunities will this order entail for Iran? In response to this question, the central hypothesis of this study is that the new world order is on the threshold of transformations that can be described as a transitional period. Due to the accelerated and greater growth of other major rival powers compared to the United States, this order is moving toward a multipolar system.

This trend creates opportunities for Iran, including the creation of space for active Iranian agency, the emergence of new arenas for Iran’s economic and commercial interactions, the highlighting of new economic nodes at the regional level for Iran, and the formation of a new normative space for anti-hegemonic powers such as Iran. Simultaneously, it brings challenges such as the weakening of principles such as the non-use of force, territorial integrity, and the inviolability of borders, the risk of Iran’s marginalization or even elimination from international equations and relations, threats related to energy and transit corridors, the danger of being excluded from global value chains (particularly in the East), the strategic and geopolitical devaluation or elimination of Iran in international equations, and the multifaceted securitization of Iran as a disruptive actor threatening global order and security.