Following the 1979 revolution in Iran, the Islamic revolutionary regime of Ayatollah Khomeini dramatically reversed the pro-Western foreign policy of the regime it overthrew. Since then Iran has oscillated between the two opposing tendencies of revolutionary ardour and moves towards pragmatism. Iran's initial post-revolutionary idealistic and hard-line foreign policy and ambitious goals during the Iran-Iraq war were replaced by more pragmatic policies after the Imam's death in 1989. Relations improved with its non-Revolutionary-Islamic neighbours - i.e. all its neighbors - particularly Saudi Arabia. Following the 2005 election of President Ahmedinejad, Iran has returned to more Islamic revolutionary policies. In broad terms, Iran's foreign policy emphasizes three main guidelines:
- Opposition to the United States and Israel, the former as a military power that threatens it in the Persian Gulf, and the latter as part of its stance to support the Palestinians. See U.S.-Iran relations.
- Elimination of outside influence in the region. Iran sees itself as a regional power, and opposes the influence of global powers such as the United States or the United Kingdom in its region. It seeks to reduce their presence in the Persian Gulf wherever possible.
- Diplomatic contacts with developing and non-aligned countries, as part of an effort to build trade and political support, now that the US has turned from ally to strong adversary.
Despite these guidelines, however, bilateral relations are sometimes confused and contradictory, due to Iran's oscillation between pragmatic and ideological concerns.
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Iranians have traditionally been highly sensitive and suspicious of foreign interference in their country, pointing to such events as Russian conquest of northern parts of the country, the Tobbaco concession to the British-Soviet occupation during World War I and II, and the CIA plot to overthrow Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq. This suspicious manifests itself in beliefs many foreigners find highly implausible, such as "the fairly common" one that the Iranian Revolution was actually the work of a conspiracy between Iran's Shia clergy and the British government.[1]
Revolution period under Khomeini
During the reign of the Khomeini Iran's foreign policy often emphasized the elimination of foreign influence and spread of Islamic Revolution rather than state-state relations or the furthering of trade. In the words of Khomeini
We shall export our revolution to the whole world. Until the cry `There is no God but God` resounds over the whole world, there will be struggle.' [2]
The Islamic Republic's effort to spread the revolution is thought to have gotten underway in earnest in March 1982 when 380 men from more than 25 Arab and Islamic nations, met at the former Tehran Hilton Hotel for a "seminar" on the "ideal Islamic government," and less academically the launching of a large-scale offensive to cleanse the Islamic world of the Satanic Western and Communist influences that were seen to be hindering the Islamic world's progress. The gathering of primarily Shia, but including some Sunnis militants, "with various religious and revolutionary credentials," was hosted by the Association of Militant Clerics and the Pasdaran Islamic Revolutionary Guards.[3] The nerve center of the revolutionary crusade, operational since shortly after the 1979 revolution, was located in downtown Tehran and known to outsiders as the "Taleghani Center." At this headquarters groundwork for the gathering was prepared - the use of Arab cadre, recruited or imported from surrounding countries, to spread the revolution - and headquarters for groups such as Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain, Iraqi Shia movement, and militant clerics of the Moros of the Philippines, Kuwaiti, Saudi, North African and Lebanon. These groups came under the umbrella of the `Council for the Islamic Revolution` which was supervised by Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, the designated heir of Ayatollah Khomeini. Most of the council's members were clerics, but they also reportedly included advisors from the Syrian and Libyan intelligence agencies. The council reportedly received more than $1 billion annually - contributions from the faithful in other countries as well as Iranian government allocations. [4] A two-pronged strategy - armed struggle against what were perceived as Western imperialism and its agents; and a purifying process internally to free Islamic territory and Muslim minds of non-Islamic cultural, intellectual and spiritual influences by providing justice, services, resources to the mustazafin (weak) masses of the Muslim world. These attempts to spread its Islamic revolution strained the country's relations with many of its Arab neighbors and the extra-judicial execution of Iranian dissidents in Europe unnerved European nations, particularly France and Germany. At this time, Iran found itself very isolated, but this was secondary to the spread of revolutionary ideals spread across the Persian Gulf and the confrontation with the U.S., or "Great Satan," in the hostage crisis.
Training volunteers
Arab and other Muslim volunteers who came to Iran were trained in camps run by the Revolutionary Guards. There were three primary bases in Tehran, and in Ahwaz, Isfahan, Qom, Shiraz, Mashad, and in a facility converted in 1984 near the southern naval base at Bushire.[5] In 1981, Iran supported an attempt to overthrow the Bahraini government. In 1983, Iran expressed political support for Shi'ites who bombed Western embassies in Kuwait, and in 1987, Iranian pilgrims rioted at poor living conditions and treatment and were consequently massacred during the Hajj (pilgrimage) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Nations with strong fundamentalist movements, such as Egypt and Algeria, also began to mistrust Iran. With the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Iran was thought to be supporting the creation of the Hizballah organization. Furthermore, Iran went on to oppose the Arab-Israeli peace process, because it saw Israel as an illegal country.
Lebanon
Around June 1982, Iran dispatched more than 1000 Revolutionary Guards to the predominately Shi'ite Bekaa Valley of Lebanon. There they established themselves, taking over the Lebanese Army's regional headquarters in the Sheikh Abdullah barracks, as well as a modern clinic renamed `Hospital Khomeini` and the Hotel Khayyam. Pasdaran were active in many places, including schools, where they propagated Islamic doctrine. [6] From this foothold, the Islamic Republic helped organize one of its biggest successes, the Hezbollah militia, party and social services organization loyal to the Khomeini principle of Guardianship (i.e. rule) of the Islamic Jurists (Velayat-e-Faqih), and loyal to Khomeini as their leader.[7] Over the next seven years Iran is estimated to have spent an estimated $5 to $10 million US dollars per month on Hezbollah, although that organization is said to have become more self-sufficient now. [8] As Hussein Musawi, a militia commander of Amal mliitia who quit Amal and joined Hezbollah put it:
We are her [Iran's] children. We are seeking to formulate an Islamic society which in the final analysis will produce an Islamic state. ... The Islamic revolution will march to liberate Palestine and Jerusalem, and the Islamic state will then spread its authority over the region of which Lebanon is only a part.` [9]
Iran-Iraq War
Relations with Iraq had never been good historically; however, they took a turn for the worse in 1980, when Iraq invaded Iran. The stated reason for Iraq's invasion was centered around sovereignty over the waterway between the two countries, the Shatt al-Arab(Arvand-Rud). However, other non-stated reasons are probably more convincing. Iran and Iraq had a history of interference in each other's affairs by supporting separatist movements. Although these interferences had stopped since the Algiers Agreement (1975), Iran resumed support for Kurdish guerrillas in Iraq after the Revolution. Iran demanded the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Iranian territory and the return to the status quo ante for the Shatt al-Arab, as established under the 1975 Algiers Agreement signed by Iraq and Iran. This period saw Iran become even more isolated—with virtually no allies. Exhausted by the war, Iran signed UN Security Council Resolution 598 in July 1988 after the United States and Germany began supplying Iraq with chemical weapons. The cease-fire, resulting from the UN Resolution, was implemented on August 20, 1988. Neither nation had made any real gains in the war. It left one million dead and had a dramatic effect on the country's foreign policy. From this point on, the until-then-radical Islamist government recognised that it had no choice but to moderate and rationalise its objectives. This was the beginning of what Anoushiravan Ehteshami calls the reorientation phase of Iranian foreign policy
Pragmatism
Like other revolutionary states, practical considerations have sometimes led the Islamic Republic to inconsistency and subordination of ideological concerns, in, for example pan-Islamic solidarity. One observer, Graham Fuller, has called the Islamic Republic "stunningly silent"
about [Muslim] Chechens in [non-Muslim] Russia, or Uyghurs in China,[10] simply because the Iranian state has important strategic ties with both China and Russia that need to be preserved in the state interest. Iran has astonishingly even supported Christian Armenia against Shi'ite Azerbaijan and has been careful not to lend too much support to Islamist Tajiks in Tajikistan, where the language is basically a dialect of Persian.
In this regard the Islamic Republic resembles another revolutionary state, the old Soviet Union. The USSR was ideologically committed to not to Islam but to world proletarian revolution led by Communist parties under its leadership, but "frequently abandoned support to foreign communist parties when it served Soviet national interests to cooperate with the governments that were oppressing them." [11]
Post-War period (1988-present)
Since the end of the Iran-Iraq war, Iran's new foreign policy (see Introduction) has had a dramatic effect on its global standing. Relations with the European Union have dramatically improved to the point where Iran is a major oil exporter and trading partner for countries such as Italy, France, and Germany. China and India have also emerged as friends of Iran. Together, these three countries face similar challenges in the global economy as they industrialize and consequently find themselves aligned on a number of issues. Iran maintains regular diplomatic and commercial relations with Russia and the former Soviet Republics. Both Iran and Russia believe they have important national interests at stake in developments in Central Asia and the Transcaucasus, particularly on energy resources from the Caspian Sea. Russian and other sales of military equipment and technology concern Iran's neighbors and the United States.
Significant historical treaties
- Treaty of Zuhab
- Treaty of Turkmenchay
- Treaty of Gulistan
- Treaty of Akhal
- Paris Treaty of 1857 (by which Iran loses rights over Herat and parts of Afghanistan.)
- Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907
Current policies of The Islamic Republic of Iran
The Islamic Republic of Iran accords priority to its relations with the other states in the region and with the rest of the Islamic world. This includes a strong commitment to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Non-Aligned Movement. Relations with the states of the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), especially with Saudi Arabia, have improved in recent years. However, an unresolved territorial dispute with the United Arab Emirates concerning three islands in the Persian Gulf (see above) continues to mar its relations with these states. Tehran supports the interim Governing Council in Iraq, but it strongly advocates a prompt and full transfer of state authority to the Iraqi people. Iran hopes for stabilization in Afghanistan and supports the reconstruction effort so that the Afghan refugees in Iran (which number approximately 2.5 million.[12]) can return to their homeland and the flow of drugs from Afghanistan can be stemmed. Iran is also pursuing a policy of stabilization and cooperation with the countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia, whereby it is seeking to capitalise on its central location to establish itself as the political and economic hub of the region.
Current disputes
- Iran and Iraq restored diplomatic relations in 1990, but they are still trying to work out written agreements settling outstanding disputes from their eight-year war concerning border demarcation, prisoners-of-war, and freedom of navigation and sovereignty over the Shatt al-Arab waterway.
- Iran governs and owns two islands in the Persian Gulf claimed by the UAE: Lesser Tunb (which the UAE calls Tunb as Sughra in Arabic, and Iran calls Jazireh-ye Tonb-e Kuchek in Persian) and Greater Tunb (which the UAE calls Tunb al Kubra in Arabic, and Iran calls Jazireh-ye Tonb-e Bozorg in Persian).
- Iran jointly administers with the UAE an island in the Persian Gulf claimed by the UAE (Arabic, Abu Musa; Persian, Jazireh-ye Abu Musa), over which Iran has taken steps to exert unilateral control since 1992, including access restrictions.
- The Caspian Sea borders are not yet determined with Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan, although this problem is set to be resolved peacefully in the coming years through slow negotiations. Issues between Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan were settled in 2003, but Iran does not recognize these agreements, albeit it has no common border with Russia or Kazakhstan.
- 2007 UK-Iran maritime capture controversy
- Iran on June 5 2007 reaffirmed the country's non-interference in Lebanese national affairs and called for unity among the Lebanese people.[2]
- In 2003, the American Iranian Council helped Iran initiate an offer to the United States, known as the "Grand Bargain". Before invading Iraq, the Bush administration rebuffed a series of overtures from Iran's reformist government -- among them offers to help the United States stabilize Iraq after the invasion -- which culminated in a secret proposal for a grand bargain resolving all outstanding issues between the United States and Iran, including Iran's alleged support for terrorism and the development of its nuclear program. The United States which had branded Iran part of the "axis of evil," decided on a confrontational approach (see PBS Frontline Documentary showing on October 23, 2007).
Combatting the flow of illicit drugs
Despite substantial interdiction efforts, Iran remains a key transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin (primarily from neighboring Afghanistan) to Europe; domestic consumption of narcotics remains a persistent problem and Iranian press reports estimate that there are at least 1.2 million drug users in the country. Iran has been trying to increase the profile of its anti-drugs campaign abroad, but it is having little success. Most countries support it politically, but refuse Iran the critical equipment and training it needs.
Relations with the United States of America and the Member States of the European Union
Main article: U.S.-Iran relations Relations between Iran and the United States have been disrupted since the revolution in Iran. Iran does not maintain official diplomatic relations with either the United States or Israel, and it views the Middle East peace process with skepticism. Iran and the United States do have diplomatic "Interest Sections" in each other's countries, but that's it. Relations between Iran on the one hand and the European Union and its member states on the other hand are slowly but surely increasing in importance, a fact underscored by President Seyed Mohammad Khatami's visits to Italy, France and Germany in July 2000 and to Austria and Greece in March 2002, as well as by reciprocal visits of European heads of state and government to Tehran and a lively exchange at ministerial levels. In 2002, the European Union launched negotiations on a Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA) with Iran. Parallel to these negotiations, the EU voiced its expectation that the political dialogue with Iran must lead to concrete results in the areas of human rights, efforts to counter terrorism, Iran’s stance on the Middle East peace process and issues associated with the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. During a joint visit to Tehran in October 2003, the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom successfully prompted the Iranian government to sign an additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and commit itself to fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and voluntarily suspend its uranium enrichment and processing activities.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran is selected by the President of Iran. Manouchehr Mottaki is the current acting Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Hamid Reza Assefi is the official spokesman.
References
- ^ Movali, Ifshin, The Soul of Iran, Norton, 2005
- ^ [11 February 1979 p.108 from Excerpts from Speeches and Messages of Imam Khomeini on the Unity of the Muslims, undated, distributed by the Ministry of Islamic Guidance, Tehran, (quoted in Wright, Robin, Sacred Rage, (2001), p.27)
- ^ Wright, Robin, Sacred Rage, (2001), p.28
- ^ Wright, Robin, Sacred Rage, (2001), p.33
- ^ Wright, Robin, Sacred Rage, (2001), p.34-5
- ^ Wright, Robin, Sacred Rage, (2001), p.80-1
- ^ An open letter, The Hizballah program
- ^ Jaber, Hala, Hezbollah : Born with a vengeance, Columbia University Press, c1997, p.150
- ^ Monday Morning magazine, Oct. 31, 1983
- ^ see Uyghurs Human Rights Project
- ^ Fuller, Graham E., The Future of Political Islam, Palgrave MacMillan, (2003), p.41
- ^ Afghan Refugees in Iran, "[1]", International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, 16-Jun-2004. Retrieved 29-Apr-2007.
Bibliography
See also
| Iran Portal |
- Iran
- United States-Iran relations
- Iranian diplomatic missions
- Iran-Contra Affair
- Iran-Iraq War
- United Nations Security Council Resolution 1747
