Geoeconomic explanation of Silk Road and its effect on Iran's regional power

Abstract In terms of geo-economic potentials The Silk Road has a privileged status among the countries of different areas such as Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Indian subcontinent and West Asia. Iran is one of the countries located on the route of this road. The existence of rich energy and mineral resources are among the most important economic attractions of Iran, and in addition, Iran is geographically located in one of the most unique geo-economic positions in the world. But in recent decades, due to the weakness of the political management of the space and especially the international problems, the corridors have not been used to transform the said potentials into regional power. In this context, the current research has studied the geo-economic role of the Silk Road and its impact on Iran's regional power with a descriptive-analytical and survey method. The statistical population consists of all experts in the field of political geography, whose sample size was determined to be 35 people. The analysis of the findings was based on the similarity and cosine economic models and spss software was used. The results showed that the development of the Silk Road, in addition to improving the position of Iran in economic, commercial, political and military terms, can also widen the range of economic diplomacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The development of the Silk Road can provide the geo-economic interests of Iran among the countries of Central Asia, the Caspian and the Indian subcontinent. And it can also increase the export of oil and energy and also increase the cooperation and dependencies of Central Asian countries, especially China.

The obtained results show that from the total opinions of 35 experts and specialists, in the field of descriptive statistics of the role of the development of the South-North Corridor in reducing economic pressures after the post-Jharma sanctions, the results showed that the greatest effects of the Silk Road can be on the Iran's regional power includes the increase in the value of the national currency, the dependence of the countries of the Persian Gulf region on Iran, the dependence of the countries of the Caucasus region on Iran, the dependence of the Central Asian countries on Iran, the growth of Iran's oil and gas exports, the development of petrochemical exports, and the attraction of foreign investment. promotion of economic relations between Iran and regional countries, promotion of industrial relations between Iran and regional countries, promotion of financial relations between Iran and regional countries, promotion of military and defense relations between Iran and regional countries, promotion of tourism relations between Iran and regional countries, promotion of mineral relations between Iran and regional countries , promotion of relations between the agricultural sector of Iran and regional countries, promotion of employment relations between Iran and regional countries, promotion of technological relations between Iran and regional countries, promotion of scientific relations between Iran and regional countries, promotion of cultural relations between Iran and regional countries, promotion of transit relations between Iran and regional countries to promote the strategic relations between Iran and the countries of the region.

The Silk Road, along with the existing corridors in the European continent, provided the possibility of goods transit between Asian and European countries and makes the countries dependent on each other, especially the countries in the center of the corridor. The North-South corridor connects the transit countries of Northern Europe, Scandinavia and Central Asia Through the southern ports of Iran and the Caspian Sea, it connects to the countries of the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf and Southeast Asia.

Asian and European countries can exchange their goods on the Silk Road route at a speed that is twice as fast as compared to the active route at that time, the Suez Canal, and due to the high volume of commercial exchanges between Asia and Europe, the Silk Road route as The safest, shortest and cheapest way to transport goods between Asia and Europe can play a very important role and this road can also activate the economic diplomacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in different geopolitical regions (Bakhshi Ani et al., 1400). . In fact, Iran's privileged geographical and strategic position as a key point on the Silk Road, if properly planned and paid attention to, will bring significant foreign exchange earnings to the country through the transit of goods. Credit and stability, political attraction of foreign investments, the prosperity of the country's industrial and service sectors, increasing dependence of countries on the Persian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent, the Caucasus, Caspian, Central Asia, and Europe from the highway of this Iranian corridor. Also, one of the other advantages of the Silk Road for its members is the possibility of access to three large and major markets and the center of distribution and transportation of global cargo in Asia, that is, the Persian Gulf area, the Indian Ocean area, and the area of Southeast Asian countries (Bayat and Sadeghian, 2014).

At present, the largest trade capacities related to the countries of Central Asia are the Caspian, Indian subcontinent and the Persian Gulf, and the lowest are related to the countries of the geopolitical territory of Shamat and Anatolia, and the Silk Road can benefit the countries of Central Asia, the Caspian and the Persian Gulf. provide the Indian continent. Finally, in terms of the role of the development of the Silk Road, it is very important in order to improve the status of economic diplomacy and to improve the relations between Iran and the countries of the region (Hafez Nia and Romina 2014). In terms of the role of the development of the Silk Road in reducing the economic pressures caused by sanctions, it can be said that the greatest effects of this road can be on increasing the export of oil, energy and petrochemicals, as well as increasing the dependence of Central Asian countries, especially China, on the Islamic Republic of Iran. and in the context of the role of twin road in increasing the incomes and growth of industries in Iran, .