When the Cold War ended, so too did the bipolar nature of world politics. Countries with regional leadership aspirations subsequently emerged in the Middle East and the Arab uprisings that started in late 2010 became a game-changer in the regional struggle for hegemony.In international relations, the widely known definition of a regional power is a country that dominates a specific geographic region in economic, ideological and military terms. It has influence throughout the region via the successful employment of foreign policy tools, with its considerable hegemony accepted by the other countries in the region.
Two non-Arab countries, Turkey and Iran, have engaged in a fierce competition for Middle Eastern hegemony but, to achieve this, they will have to break free of the other’s influence from the South Caucasus to Syria and from Iraq to Lebanon. They will also need to cope with their own specific constraints to become a regional power — a status it is unlikely either will claim in the near future.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has condemned the Turkish army’s presence in Syria and Iraq. “We reject the Turkish military presence in Syria and Iraq, and we consider Ankara's policies towards Damascus and Baghdad to be wrong,” he told Press TV this week. His remarks were made on the same day that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani spoke to each other on the phone and discussed ways to improve bilateral ties.
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