After 2005, Iran's vision of its top priorities abroad was affected by several key factors. First of all, international sanctions were imposed against the IRI during 2006 – 2012. They not only determined a search for ways to mitigate their negative effect on the country's economy as one of the top priorities of Tehran (as shown in Chapter 5) but also transformed the domestic political background of Iran. The sanctions were supposed to change the behavior of the Iranian leadership and make it more ready for compromise with America and the international community on its nuclear program and regional policies. Instead, they strengthened the positions of the ruling regime, helped to unite people around it and allowed it to gradually purge those reformist and liberal forces that could raise a question about the necessity to diminish confrontation with the West.

The second factor that affected Iran's foreign policy in this period was the nuclear case. Iran started its nuclear research during the Shah's times. Since then, it had been slowly progressing. In the 1990s, the US authorities started to actively discuss the scenario that Tehran could make an attempt to build a nuclear WMD, and demanding the international community to pay closer attention to the threat. Yet, it was not until 2004 when the disclosure of facts on the existence of the secret nuclear program in Iran compelled other countries to fully share American concerns. Khatami's government tried to allay international tensions and even signed an additional protocol of the Non Proliferation Treaty that was supposed to provide additional options for the international control over the nuclear program. Moreover, in 2003, Tehran shut down its military research. Yet, the scandal around Tehran's nuclear ambitions happened a year before the new presidential elections. Should Hashemi-Rafsanjani manage to win the 2005 presidential elections and return to office, he would possibly continue Khatami's policies and manage to find a solution. However, he failed to win the presidential race to the neo-conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The latter became the third factor that affected Iran's foreign policy for, at least, eight years.