The main directions of the foreign policy of the countries of the Middle East
Developing the idea of the Arab world or region, Egyptian researchers R. Al-Bustani and F. Fargus, analyzing regional processes, starting with the formation of modern states, do not use the term Middle East, but they write about the Arab world, Arab states, North Africa, East Africa , "The Fertile Crescent" as a part of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, the Arabian Peninsula. Another Egyptian scholar, M. Muallim, notes that the Middle East is a region from Iran in the east to Libya in the west, and from Turkey in the north to the southern borders of the Arabian Peninsula and in Africa to the southern borders of Sudan. Such a Middle East is a political concept, and, in his opinion, it is better to use the term “Asian-African region”, which includes all the specifics of territories, starting with the geographical location at the junction of Europe, Asia, Africa, and ending with energy resources. Some scientists compare the excesses of the “Arab spring” and its consequences with such powerful historical disasters as the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the emergence of national Arab entities after the First World War. In the current situation, the diplomacy of Uzbekistan should assist in resolving conflicts and positive political and economic transformation of the Middle East and have a solid analytical foundation. The article pursues a study of the situation in the Middle East in the light of the changes in regimes and changes in the geopolitical configuration of the region. The article also analyzes the features of the formation and implementation of the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) in the Middle East (Iraq, Turkey, the Syrian-Lebanese-Palestinian zone, Egypt, the Persian Gulf countries, Yemen) in the context of the transformation of forms and methods of implementing Washington’s strategy on “systemic containment” Iran. Particular attention is paid to identifying the potential of Iran as one of the leaders in the Middle East region. Therefore, the article widely discusses the main directions of the foreign policy of the countries of the Middle East and gives us assessments of the Middle East situation.