Iran’s Quest for Regional Hegemony or Balancing the Threat? A Comparative Analysis of Iran’s Role in Syrian and Yemen Crisis

Abstract

Iran is the most important country in the Middle East right now because of its revisionist policies in region. It is being considered as a threat by all the status quo countries in the region and the world at large. This study will focus on Iranian policies and ambitions in the region especially in post-Arab Spring conflict with two case studies of Syria and Yemen. The purpose of this study is to comprehend the Iranian policies in Syrian and Yemen crisis and then analyze this situation in the light of Offensive Realism and Balance of Threat theories. For this purpose, first this study focuses on finding out all those factors that led Iran to take part in Syrian and Yemen Crisis. Then it discusses how Iran actually responded to the crises in Syria and Yemen. And lastly, both the policies of Iran in Syrian and Yemen crisis were comparatively analyzed to see which theory most perfectly explains the situation of Iran in Middle East. The study is qualitative in nature and adopts exploratory, descriptive and analytical approaches to conduct research. Based on the facts, the study concludes that Balance of Threat theory explains the Iranian role in Syrian and Yemen crises more clearly. It is evidently proven that currently Iran is not in a position to pursue hegemony as it is facing many threats in the region and the best way to cope with this pressure is to find alternate ways to increase its influence in the region to counter these threats. Hence, the involvement of Iran in Syria and Yemen cannot be categorized at this point as pursuing hegemony in the region.