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.
Billionaire Elon Musk has vowed to form a new political party if Donald Trump’s massive spending bill is passed by Congress, slamming it as evidence...
Russia launched a record 5,337 drones at Ukraine in June alone, marking the most intense month of drone warfare since the start of the full-scale inva...
The Communist Party of China (CPC) has surpassed a 100 million members, marking a "significant milestone" ahead of its 104th founding anniversary, the...
The U.S. Senate is locked in a marathon voting session over President Donald Trump’s wide-reaching budget proposal, dubbed the 'One Big Beautiful Bi...
One person was killed and two seriously injured in a stabbing incident by a man with a sharp object at an electric utility company in south-central Ge...
Billionaire Elon Musk has vowed to form a new political party if Donald Trump’s massive spending bill is passed by Congress, slamming it as evidence of a “one-party country.”
Russia launched a record 5,337 drones at Ukraine in June alone, marking the most intense month of drone warfare since the start of the full-scale invasion, according to Ukraine’s Air Force.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) has surpassed a 100 million members, marking a "significant milestone" ahead of its 104th founding anniversary, the party announced on Monday.
The U.S. Senate is locked in a marathon voting session over President Donald Trump’s wide-reaching budget proposal, dubbed the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act,' as it hangs in the balance amid internal Republican divisions and fierce Democratic opposition.
The U.S. economy faces a 40% risk of recession in the second half of 2025, JP Morgan analysts said on Wednesday, citing rising tariffs and stagflation concerns.
China has ramped up efforts to protect communities impacted by flood control measures, introducing stronger compensation policies and direct aid from the central government.
Severe rain in Venezuela has caused rivers to overflow and triggered landslides, sweeping away homes and collapsing a highway bridge, with five states affected and no casualties reported so far.
A malfunction in the radar transmission system at the Area Control Center in Milan suspended more than 300 flights at the weekend, across northwest Italy since Saturday evening according to Italy's air traffic controller Enav (National Agency for Flight Assistance).
Thousands of protesters rallied in Bangkok on Saturday, demanding Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra resign as political and economic tensions mount.
China’s resale home prices fell at an accelerated pace in June, deepening concerns about the country’s ailing property market and underscoring the limited impact of recent government support measures, a private survey showed on Tuesday.
China’s manufacturing sector expanded in June for the first time in three months, according to a private-sector survey released Tuesday, signaling a modest recovery in domestic demand even as export pressures persist.
Factory activity across much of Asia remained subdued in June as the uncertainty surrounding U.S. trade policy weighed heavily on manufacturing sentiment, even as some economies reported slight improvements in output.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) has surpassed a 100 million members, marking a "significant milestone" ahead of its 104th founding anniversary, the party announced on Monday.
China said Monday that its decades-long boundary dispute with India is “complicated” and will require time to resolve, while expressing openness to continued diplomatic engagement.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment