Iran hosted the Tehran Dialogue Forum on May 18–19 with 200 delegates from 53 countries, showcasing its soft power through diplomacy while also highlighting military strength—an approach echoing the "smart power" concept of balancing dialogue and deterrence.
Iran hosted the Tehran Dialogue Forum on May 18-19 participated by 200 high-ranking delegates from 53 countries by which it showcased its diplomatic soft power while the Islamic Republic has in the past weeks also unveiled its underground bases of ballistic missiles and drones.
Joseph Samuel Nye Jr. (January 19, 1937 – May 6, 2025), American political scientist and co-founder of the international relations theory of neo-liberalism, developed the notion of soft power including cultural and academic strengths in the late 1980s distinguishing from hard power such as the military might.
In the early 2000s, he co-developed the term smart power as the ability to combine hard and soft powers to secure a successful strategy.
Although Iranian statesmen have been at loggerheads with their US counterparts since the 1979 Islamic Revolution which toppled the pro-west Shah monarchy, they appear to have implemented Nye’s smart power notion in more viable ways by hosting such dialogue forums.
Organized by Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the fourth Tehran Dialogue Forum brought in prime ministers, presidential aides, foreign ministers, and former government officials from regional countries including Azerbaijan and Armenia from South Caucasia, Afghanistan and Tajikistan from Central Asia, Oman, Qatar, Iraq, and Iraqi Kurdistan from the Persian Gulf and Middle East, and the secretary general of Shanghai Security Organization as speakers of the event.
The main message sent by convening this year’s forum was that Iran is able to organize a regional platform for discussions on key issues simultaneous with wielding its military power and while at the bargaining table in the ongoing negotiations with the US on its nuclear enrichment program.
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Here's your AnewZ Daily Brief for 28 September 2026. These are the top stories making headlines in technology.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan has arrived in Washington for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on bilateral ties and key regional and international developments, Saudi state news agency SPA reported.
U.S. President Donald Trump has denied reports that he offered Iran sanctions relief and access to frozen funds in exchange for nuclear concessions.
The European Union's decision to simultaneously advance accession talks with Ukraine, Moldova, Montenegro and Albania marks its most ambitious enlargement effort in more than two decades.
Kazakhstan and Germany have agreed to expand cooperation in critical minerals, industry, energy and transport, with Astana seeking a greater German role in developing supply chains and higher-value production.
Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom has proposed building a new 1,000-megawatt nuclear power unit in Armenia as Yerevan weighs competing international offers, its head Alexey Likhachev said on Tuesday.
Freight on the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway could soon move faster across borders after Georgia, Azerbaijan and Türkiye signed a new customs protocol aimed at cutting delays and streamlining transit.
Afghanistan and Belarus have agreed to expand health cooperation, with a focus on medicines, medical equipment and training healthcare workers, following talks between the two countries’ health ministers in Minsk on Tuesday (29 September).
Saudi Arabia is facing a widening security challenge from Yemen as Houthi forces consolidate recent territorial gains along the Red Sea coast and step up attacks on the kingdom.
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