Rural poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon that goes beyond financial deprivation, including lack of opportunities, inadequate access to social services, poor infrastructure, and deprivation of welfare resources. This issue is one of the fundamental challenges in rural communities, especially in a situation where more than three-quarters of the poor population reside in these areas. Reducing poverty in rural areas requires a systematic understanding of the current situation and designing future-oriented scenarios for effective policymaking. The present study aims to identify the drivers and future scenarios of rural poverty in East Azarbaijan Province, using a descriptive-analytical method and a scenario-oriented futures research approach. The conceptual framework of the research is based on ontological and epistemological differences in foresight tools that determine the type of view of the future (as something objective or imaginary, discoverable or constructible). In the first step, 50 factors affecting rural poverty were identified by reviewing scientific sources and reviewing citations. Then, these factors were provided to 34 experts, including university professors, officials of related organizations, and researchers in the field of rural development, through two researcher-made questionnaires. The analysis of these factors was carried out using MICMAC and Scenario Wizard software and based on two matrices of interaction effects and possible situations. The results showed that the rural poverty system is unstable and has strong dependencies between variables. Among them, eight key drivers were identified, of which "lack of sustainable employment" was the most effective. Also, the desired future scenarios emphasize the creation of sustainable irrigation systems, suitable housing, and the realization of gender and cultural equality in access to opportunities