Article 11 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as the country's supreme upstream document, refers to the need to create unity and cohesion among Islamic countries. According to the holy verse, إِنَّ هذِهِ أُمَّتُکُمْ أُمَّةً واحِدَةً وَ أَنَا رَبُّکُمْ فَاعْبُدُونِ, all Muslims are one nation and the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is obliged to place its general policy on the alliance and unity of Islamic nations and to make continuous efforts to realize the political, economic and cultural unity of the Islamic world.
Imam Khomeini (RA), the great founder of the Islamic Revolution and the holy system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, also clearly stated in this connection that one of the great purposes of the laws and the great prophets (PBUH) is the monotheism of the word and monotheism of belief. He considered unity as a factor of strength and division as the cause of the weakness of the foundation of religion, and warning about the existing division among Muslim countries, he said: Islam and the Qur'an called us to unity; therefore, violating this divine order is a crime. It's a sin... we have progressed and will continue to do so by Hablollah (The rope of God), and Islam is the founder of brotherhood.
The supreme leader of the revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei, pointing out that unity among Muslims is a definite Qur'anic obligation, recommends religious scholars, intellectuals, university professors, enlightened youth, sages, writers, poets, and authors to work in this field. By pointing out that the unity among Muslims is not a tactical, temporary, or special situation issue, they have called it a principled issue. From the perspective of the supreme leader, if the unity of Muslim nations is realized, the problem and challenge of Palestine will be solved in the best way.
Therefore, with a quick look at the text of the Holy Quran, the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the strategic view of Imam Khomeini (RA) and the Supreme Leader of the Revolution, the importance and necessity of cohesion and unity among Islamic countries can be clearly understood.
The foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is fundamentally and strategically based on the axis of interaction, cooperation, synergy, and cohesion with Islamic countries. Pursuing this strategy in our foreign policy, especially in the current state of the international system, which, according to the supreme leader of the world revolution, is on the verge of a transformation and we are witnessing the decline of American power and the formation of a new world order without American centrality, it has been revealed as an inevitable necessity more than any time and situation, and it is followed among the first priorities of the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The foreign policy apparatus of the Islamic Republic of Iran, while carefully monitoring the transition of the international system from a unipolar system to a multipolar system without the American center, the necessity of convergence and cooperation with Islamic countries in order to shape the norms and fair processes of the international system, establish justice-oriented peace and security, and it has deeply understood the placement in the new order, and it believes that the unity and convergence of Islamic countries can increase the weight and influence of the Islamic world in proportion to their huge resources of spiritual and material power, especially the norm-creating and civilization-building capacity of the Islamic religion, and in the process of redistributing power in the new structure of the international system, it should decisively increase the share and interests of the block of Islamic countries.
The Islamic countries' possession of historical, Islamic, and religious commonalities is a huge asset, and cooperation based on them can, in addition to friendship and goodwill, ensure the economic development of Islamic countries and also guarantee security, peace, and stability among them.
In order to realize such a promising result and perspective, it is necessary to have a strategic view, the determination and will of the leaders of Islamic countries to resolve differences, to focus on commonalities between them, as well as to avoid being on the map and playing field of domineering powers and to be alert to the destructive policies of extra-regional actors.
One of the current approaches in the field of foreign policy in various regions of the world is regionalism and intra-regional cooperation with the aim of securing common interests, providing and guaranteeing collective security, especially synergy to speed up the wheel of economic development and progress, and use common capacities.
The current approach of the 13th government in pursuing the neighborhood policy and strengthening relations with Iran's neighbors- most of which are Islamic countries- can be evaluated in this regard. This approach was expressed by the supreme leader of the revolution in his meeting with the ambassadors and heads of the Islamic Republic of Iran's representative offices abroad, emphasizing the very importance and correctness of the relationship policy with the neighbors and Islamic countries along with the relationship policy with the major and important countries of the world and the alignment with the Islamic Republic of Iran was emphasized in some currents and basic lines of international politics as an unprecedented phenomenon and an opportunity that should be appreciated.
This strategic approach is essential, both in the direction of realizing the grand goal of unity and cohesion between Islamic countries and using the great capacity of the Islamic world to ensure security and all-round and sustainable development and in the direction of generating power to deter and protect the Islamic world against the greed of enemies, especially for the American regime and the usurper Zionist regime.
Nasser Kanani, spokesman and head of the Diplomacy Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs