The Transition from Nationalism to Islamism in Iran’s Foreign Policy

Year 2023, , 229 - 252, 31.12.2023

Mohammad Reza Pashayi , Timuçin Kodaman

https://doi.org/10.62393/aurum.1368703

Abstract

The 1979 Iranian Revolution is a multifaceted phenomenon with intricate causes, complex evolution and far-reaching outcomes. Rooted in the Constitutional Revolution of the early 20th century and the rise to power of the Ayatollahs, its beginnings are distinct but interconnected. Unlike many revolutions of the 20th century, the 1979 Iranian Revolution was a departure from the socialist or communist model and manifested itself as a revolt against both Western and Eastern systems, with unique outcomes.
The 1979 Revolution shook a traditional and established order and paved the way for the rise of Islamism within a new political framework. This ideology, like its predecessors, adopted a singular leadership based on religious doctrine. To differentiate itself from global and regional powers and focus on its unique revolution, the Iranian regime shaped a foreign policy summarized by the slogan “neither East nor West, the Islamic Republic” and aimed to export this ideology globally.
The policy focused primarily on political and ideological interests, resulting in permanent sanctions imposed by the United States. This economic aspect contributes to the changes in Iran’s foreign policy towards the United States, from pre-revolutionary Persian nationalism to post-Revolutionary political Islam, emphasizing its strength and adaptability in the face of external pressures.

Keywords

Foreign Policy, Iranian Revolution, US, Shiism, “Look East”

Ethical Statement

In line with the “COPE-Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors” the following statements are included: The author of this study declared that the Ethics Committee approval is not required for this study.

Thanks

I sincerely thank Prof. Dr. Timucin Kodaman both for this article and during the thesis writing project.

İran’ın Dış Politikasında Milliyetçilikten İslamcılığa Geçiş

Abstract

1979 İran Devrimi, nedenleri, gelişimi ve geniş kapsamlı sonuçları olan çok yönlü bir olgudur. Kökleri 20. yüzyılın başlarındaki Meşrutiyet Devrimi’ne ve Ayetullahların iktidara yükselişine dayanan devrimin başlangıcı birbirinden farklı ancak birbiriyle bağlantılıdır. Yirminci yüzyıldaki pek çok devrimin aksine 1979 İran Devrimi, sosyalist ya da komünist modelden farklı olarak hem Batı hem de Doğu sistemlerine karşı bir başkaldırı olarak kendini göstermiş ve benzersiz sonuçlar doğurmuştur.
1979 Devrimi geleneksel ve yerleşik bir düzeni sarsmış ve yeni bir siyasi çerçeve içinde İslamcılığın yükselişinin önünü açmıştır. Bu ideoloji de öncekiler gibi dini doktrine dayalı tekil bir liderliği benimsemiştir. İran rejimi, kendisini küresel ve bölgesel güçlerden farklılaştırmak ve kendi benzersiz devrimine odaklanmak için “ne Doğu ne Batı, İslam Cumhuriyeti” sloganıyla özetlenen bir dış politika şekillendirmiş ve bu ideolojiyi küresel çapta ihraç etmeyi amaçlamıştır.
Öncelikle siyasi ve ideolojik çıkarlara odaklanmış, bu da ABD tarafından uygulanan kalıcı yaptırımlarla sonuçlanmıştır. Bu ekonomik boyut, İran’ın ABD’ye yönelik dış politikasında devrim öncesi Pers milliyetçiliğinden devrim sonrası siyasal İslam’a doğru yaşanan değişimlere katkıda bulunarak dış baskılar karşısındaki gücünü ve uyum yeteneğini vurgulamaktadır.

Keywords

Dış Politika, İran Devrimi, ABD, Şiilik, “Doğu’ya Bakış”

Ethical Statement

“COPE-Dergi Editörleri İçin Davranış Kuralları ve En İyi Uygulama İlkeleri” çerçevesinde aşağıdaki beyanlara yer verilmiştir: Bu çalışmanın yazarı bu çalışma için Etik Kurul onayı gerekmediğini beyan etmiştir.

References

• Abrahamian, E. (2021). Oil crisis in Iran: From nationalism to coup d’état. Cambridge University Press.
• Alden, C. & Aran, A. (2017). Foreign policy analysis. Routledge.
• Amanpour, C. (2019). Axis of Evil. Twitter, https://twitter.com/i/status/1154747788430848007
• Axworthy, M. (2013). Revolutionary Iran: A history of the Islamic Republic. Oxford University Press.
• Baabood, A. (2017). Oman and the Gulf Diplomatic Crisis, Gulf Affairs, Autumn.
• Bakhash, S. (2018). Where do I go without money? Reza shah’s finances in exile. Iranian Studies, 51(1), 127-140.
• Bashirieh, H. (2004). Ideologi-ye siasi va hoveyat-e ejtema’i Iran. Iran Nameh, 2, 13-29.
• Bayandor, D. (2010). Iran and the CIA: The fall of Mosaddeq revisited. Palgrave.
• Beeman, W. O. (1983). Images of the great Satan: Symbolic conceptions of the United States in the Iranian revolution, N. Keddie (Ed.), Religion and politics in Iran, Yale University Press.
• Bill, James A. & Louis, W. M. R. (1988). Musaddiq, Iranian nationalism, and oil. I.B. Tauris.
• Brew, G. (2022). Petroleum and progress in Iran: Oil, development, and the cold war. Cambridge University Press.
• Brzezinski, Z., Gates, R. M., & Maloney, S. (2004). Iran: Time for a new approach: report of an independent task force sponsored by the council on foreign relations. Council on Foreign Relations.
• Bush, G. W. (January 29, 2002). The President’s State of the Union Address. http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020129-11.html
• Bush, G W. (2002). Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union. http:// www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PPP-2002-book1/pdf/PPP-2002-book1-doc-pg129-3.pdf
• Kurzman, C. (2004). The unthinkable revolution in Iran. Harvard University Press.
• De Bellaigue, C. (2012). Patriot of Persia: Muhammad Mossadegh and a tragic Anglo-American coup. Harper.
• Dehghani Firoozabadi, S. J. (2008). The foreign policy of the Islamic republic of Iran. Samt Publication.
• Dehghani Firouzabadi, S. J. (2008). Emancipating foreign policy: Critical theory and Islamic Republic of Iran’s foreign policy. The Iranian Journal of International Affairs, 20 (3), 1-26.
• Elm, M. (1992). Oil, power and principle - Iran’s oil nationalization and its aftermath. Syracuse.
• Farsi Alarabiye Staffs, (2023). Khamenei BeIsmail Haniyeh: Iran e niyabet az Hamas vared-e Jang Nakhahad Shod (Khamenei to Ismail Haniyeh: Iran will not enter the war on behalf of Hamas). https://ara.tv/zvr3s
• Farsoun, Samih K. & Mashayekhi, M. (1992). Iran: Political culture in the Islamic Republic. (Eds). Routledge.
• Fathi, N. (2002). A Nation Challenged: The Rogue List; Bush’s ‘Evil’ Label Rejected by Angry Iranian Leaders. The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/01/world/nation-challenged-rogue-list-bush-s-evil-label-rejected-angry-iranian-leaders.html
• Ferdeousi, A. (1387). Shahnameh. Ed. Feridoun Joneidi.
• Gasiorowski, M. J. (1991). U.S. foreign policy and the shah: Building a client state in Iran. Cornell University Press.
• Ghani, C. (2001). Iran and the rise of Reza Shah: From Qajar collapse to Pahlavi power. I. B. Tauris.
• Ghasemi, R. (2011). Iran’s oil nationalization and Mossadegh’s involvement with the world bank. Middle East Journal, 65(3), 442-456.
• Heiss, M. A. (1994). The United States, Great Britain, and the creation of the Iranian oil consortium, 1953-1954. The International History Review, 16(3), 511-535.
• Holsti, Ole R. (1991). International systems, system change, and foreign policy: Commentary on ‘changing international systems’, Diplomatic History, 15(1), 83-89.
• Iran’s Constitution, (1989). “Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran”. Adopted: 24 October 1979 Effective: 3 December 1979 Amended: 28 July, https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Iran_1989.pdf?lang=en
• Juneau, T. (2015). Squandered opportunity, neoclassical realism and Iranian foreign policy. Stanford University Press.
• Kadivar, M. (2004). God and his guardians, Index on Censorship, 33(4), 64-71.
• Katozian, M. A. H. (2000). Dovlat ve Jamee dar Iran: Engheraz-e Qajar ve Taasis-e Pahlavi/Government and Society in Iran, The Qajar Extinction and the Pahlavi Establishment. Hassan Afshar, Markaz: Tehran.
• Keddie, N. R. & Gasiorowski, M. J. (1990). Neither east nor west: Iran, the Soviet Union, and the United States. Yale University Press.
• Khabaronline Staffs, (November 18, 2023). Mokhalefat-e Haddad Adel Ba Voroud-e Iran be Jang Ba Esrail Dar Gazze (Haddadal’s opposition to Iran’s entry into the war with Israel in Gaza). https://khabaronline.ir/xkDDj
• Khalaji, M, (2023). The Regent of Allah: Ali Khamenei’s political evolution in Iran. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Rowman & Littlefield.
• Khamenei, A. (1384). Bayanat Dar Didar-e Jamie Az Daneshjuyan-e Ostan-e Kerman (Speech made at the group meeting of students of Kerman province). https://khl.ink/f/3290
• Khamenei, A. (1392). Bayanat Dar Marasem-e Bist-o-Chaharomin Salgard-e Rehlet-e Emam Khomeini (Speech at the ceremony of the 24th anniversary of Imam Khomeini’s death). https://khl.ink/f/22788
• Khamenei, A. (2014). Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Iran’s population policy. Population and Development Review, 40(3), 573-575.
• Khomeini, R. (1368). Gharaat-e Matn-e Kamel-e Vasiyatnameh-ye Elahi Siyasi-ye Emam Khomeini Tavassot-e Rais-Jomhoor (Reading of the full text of Imam Khomeini’s divine political testament by the President). https://khl.ink/f/39719
• Khomeini, R. (1385). Sahife-ye Emam. 21 Cilt, 1368. Tehran: Moaassese-ye Tanzim va Nashr-e Asar-e Emam Khomeini.
• Khomeini, R. (1979). Islamic government: Governance of the jurist. Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini’s Works.
• Khomeini, R. (1980). Khomeini: ‘We shall confront the world with our ideology’. MERIP, Middle East Research and Information Project, https://www.merip.org/mer/mer88/khomeini-we-shall-confront-world-our-ideology
• Kinzer, S. and Muṣaddiq, M. (2003). All the shah’s men: the hidden story of the CIA’s coup in Iran. Wiley.
• Koch, S. A. (1998). ‘Zendebad, Shah!’: the central intelligence agency and the fall of Iranian prime minister Mohammad Mosaddeq. August 1953, June, Washington, DC.
• Kruse, J. H. (1994). Determinants of Iranian Foreign Policy: The Impact of Systemic, Domestic and Ideologic Factors. [Doctoral dissertation] California: Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey.
• Kumar, D. (2012). Islamophobia: and the politics of empire. Haymarket Books.
• Maleki, A. & Afrasiabi, Kaveh L. (2014). U.S.-Iran misperceptions: A dialogue. (Ed.), Bloomsbury Publishing Inc.
• Marashi, A. (2007). The Shah’s official state visit to Kemalist Turkey June to July 1934. Performing the nation: the making of modern Iran state and society under Reza Shah, 1921-1941. S. Cronin (Ed.), Routledge Curzon, London, 99-119.
• Markaz-e Asnad (2016). How the CIA and Mossad helped form SAVAK. Islamic Revolution Documents Center, November.
• Meskoob, S. (1994). Dastan adabiat va sargozasht ejtema/story of the literature and the fate of society. Farzan Rooz.
• Milani, A. (2011). The shah. Palgrave.
• Morgenthau, Hans J. & Thompson, Kenneth W. (1997). International politics: The struggle for power and peace. Peking University Press.
• Moshirzadeh, H. (2007). Discursive foundations of Iran’s nuclear policy. Security Dialogue, 38(4), 521-543.
• Naserzadeh, H. (1993/1372). Majmu’ah qavanin-e niruha-ye mosallah-e Jomhuri-ye Sslami-ye Iran/assembly of laws of the islamic islamic forces of the republic of iran. Khorshid.
• Nephew, R. (2018). The art of sanctions: A view from the field. Columbia University Press.
• Obama, B. (2020). A promised land. Penguin Random House.
• Pahlavi, A. (1980). Faces in a Mirror: Memoirs from Exile. Prentice-Hall
• Painter, D. S. & Brew, G. (2023). The struggle for Iran: Oil, autocracy, and the cold war, 1951-1954. University of North Carolina Press.
• Panah, M. (2007). The Islamic republic and the world: Global dimensions of the Iranian revolution. Pluto Press.
• Parto, A. (2015). Haft eshtebah-e Pahlavi-ye dovvom dar siyasat-e khareji. https://www.parsine.com/fa/news/262517/
• Petherick, C. J. (2006). The CIA in Iran: The 1953 coup and the origins of the US-Iran divide. American Free Press.
• Radio Farda Staffs, (2023). Haddad Adel Voroud-e Jomhooriye Eslami Be Jang-e Gazze Ra Mokhalef-e ‘Arman-e Felestin’ Khand (Haddad Adel called the Islamic Republic’s entry into the Gaza war against the ‘Palestinian cause’). https://www.radiofarda.com/a/gholam-ali-haddad-adel-politician-iran-war-gaza-israel-hamas/32690917.html
• Rahnama, A. (2015). Behind the 1953 coup in Iran thugs, turncoats, soldiers, and spooks. Cambridge University Press.
• Rakel, E. P. (2007). Iranian foreign policy since the Iranian Islamic Revolution: 1979-2006. Perspectives on Global Development and Technology, 6(1), 159-187, doi:10.1163/156914907x207711.
• Saikal, A. & Schnabel, A. (2003). Democratization in the Middle East: Experiences, struggles. challenges, (Ed.), United Nations University Press.
• Saikal, A. (2021). The rise and fall of the Shah: Iran from autocracy to religious rule. Princeton University Press.
• Sampson, A. (1991). The seven sisters: The great oil companies and the world they shaped. Bantam Books.
• Shakibi, Z. (2021). Pahlavi Iran and the politics of Occidentalism: The shah and the Rastakhiz Oarty. Bloomsbury Academic.
• Shawcross, W. (1989). The shah’s last ride: The story of the exile, misadventures and death of the exile. Chatto & Windus.
• Sick, G. (1985). All fall down: America’s tragic encounter with Iran. London: Random House.
• Soroush, A. (2000). Reason, freedom, and democracy in Islam: Essentials writings of Abdolkarim Soroush. Trans. Mahmoud Sadri and Ahmad Sadri, Oxford Univ. Press.
• Tabatabai, A. M. (2019). The Islamic Republic’s foreign policy at forty. RAND Corporation, February.
• Tasnim News Staffs. (2022). Leader reiterates need for population Growth in Iran. https://tn.ai/2713159