Assignment On

Irans Foreign Policy;

Formulation Machinery and
Objectives

Submitted By:
Siddiq ur Rehman
Roll No:
BS International Relation Semester

Submitted To:
Madam/Sir

Department of International Relation

University of Peshawar

Foreign Policy:
Plan of action adopted by one nation in regards to its diplomatic dealings
with other countries. Foreign policies are established as a systematic way to
deal with issues that may arise with other countries.

Irans Foreign Policy:

Foreign Policy of Iran refers to inter-governmental relationships between Iran
and other countries. Geography is a very significant factor in informing Iran's
foreign policy. Following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the newly born Islamic
Republic, under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, dramatically reversed
the pro-American foreign policy of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza
Pahlavi. Since then the country's policies have oscillated between the two
opposing tendencies of revolutionary ardour, which would eliminate Western
and non-Muslim influences while promoting the Islamic revolution abroad,
and pragmatism, which would advance economic development and
normalization of relations. Iran's bilateral dealings are accordingly sometimes
confused and contradictory.
Iran currently maintains full diplomatic relations with 97 countries worldwide.

History:
Iranians have traditionally been highly sensitive to foreign interference in
their country, pointing to such events as the Russian conquest of northern
parts of the country in the course of the 19th century, the tobacco
concession, the British and Russian occupations of the First and Second
World Wars, and the CIA plot to overthrow Prime Minister Mohammed
Mosaddeq. This suspicion manifests itself in attitudes that many foreigners
might find incomprehensible, such as the "fairly common" belief that the

Iranian Revolution was actually the work of a conspiracy between Iran's Shi'a
clergy and the British government. This may have been a result of the antiShah bias in BBC Radio's influential Persian broadcasts into Iran: a BBC report
of 23 March 2009 explains that many in Iran saw the broadcaster and the
government as one, and interpreted the bias for Khomeini as evidence of
weakening British government support for the Shah. It is entirely plausible
that the BBC did indeed help hasten revolutionary events.

Formulation:
Mohammad Khatami has been Iran's first president who received his power
and acceptability directly and only through the support of the people without
the backing of one specific influential revolutionary figure. Hence, the loss of
his popularity has also paved the grounds for his weakness in making crucial
decisions. Nevertheless, his experience by no means indicates that decisionmaking in Iran is doomed to what turned out the fate of his decisions. This is
while certain forces in Iran prefer the image that Khatami's failure proves
that decisions in Iran are predetermined and cannot be manipulated. This is
a political insinuation. If decisions were preset in Iran, the power struggle
would not have been as harsh in the past eight years.
Contrary to what appears to be the case, Iranian politics remain highly
dynamic, precarious and more flexible than many observers believe.
Therefore, irrespective of who will be elected Iran's next president, the new
presidential tenure of 2005-2009 will have in store changes in the decisionmaking processes. This article showed how and why this is possible.
There is a wide array of state, non-state and semi-state entities that
influence foreign policy in Iran. The most important of these are elaborated
below:
Velayat-e Faqih (Supreme Leader)
In 1989 Iran's Constitution was revised after ten years of political struggle
following the 1979 revolution. This amendment bestowed on the Supreme
Leader extensive powers in many domains including foreign policy. Serious
public debates on the constitutional authorities of this institution, however,
started after Khatami was elected president in 1997. A major point of dispute
emphasized by reformists was the issue of "dor-e batel" or "vicious circle".
The Leader appoints six of the 12 members of the Guardian Council (GC) that
can veto parliament's (majles) legislation. The other six members are

appointed by the head of the Judiciary-himself appointed by the Leader.

These six have to be approved by the majles. But during the course of the
reformist-dominated 6th majles (1999-2004) it turned out that a pro-reform
parliament could not veto conservative candidates for those six positions.
The conservative members were appointed despite the majles' opposition.
The Supreme National Security Council
This Council was set up in 1989, following the revision of the Constitution. Its
responsibilities are to determine the national defense-security policies within
the framework of general policies laid down by the Leader. It coordinates
political, intelligence, social, cultural and economic activities in relation to
general defense/security policies and exploits material and non-material
resources of the country for facing internal and external threats.
Individual Influence
Apart from the constitutional function of the SNSC, the role that Rohani has
played in Iran's post-revolutionary foreign policy underlines his personal
power and influence in this domain.
The Expediency Council
The significance of the EC in Iran's foreign policy is indirect but many-fold.
Firstly, the Council is, as per the Constitution, a consultative body to the
Leader on macro policies. So, the law requires the Leader to seek the opinion
of this Council before making decisions on the macro-policies
Executive Branch: Foreign Ministry & Presidency
The role of the executive branch in Iran's foreign policy is limited but not
necessarily insignificant. It is crucial in the formal decision making process,
in non-crisis situations or countries that have little security significance for
Iran and in cases where the system needs a show of legitimacy. This is true
particularly of the Khatami era
The Executive & the Nuclear Crisis
On sensitive security issues such as the nuclear program and the
development of missile technology the Khatami administration has played an
insignificant role. Most probably, Khatami himself might have been
uninformed about certain developments
Individual Influence
Despite the executive branch's limited influence on foreign policy in general,
it would be wrong to disregard the personal power of Khatami in Iran's

international relations. Observers agree that the result of the 1997

presidential election, confirmed in 2001,
Informal Mechanism
Most of the informal channels influencing foreign policy are exclusive to the
conservatives. These channels are controlled by a loose bond of a wide
variety of individuals and organizations with political and often economic
ambitions.
Armed & Security Forces
Unlike the regular army, the IRGC and its security units are active in
manipulating Iran's foreign policy. Officially, the IRGC's input to foreign policy
is through its commander's membership in the SNSC.
Individual Influence in the IRGC
Personal relations and influences of Iran's military figures are of considerable
importance in foreign policy matters
Defence Ministry
Iran's Defence Minister, Ali Shamkhani, is also one of the few personalities
who plays a significant role in Iran's foreign policy.
Internal Affairs of the Armed Forces
The armed forces officially do not receive orders from the defence ministry.
Their internal decision-making procedure is through interaction with other
military forces.

Objectives:
To understand the main objectives of Irans foreign policy, one should first
realize the logic of the Iranian revolution of 1979. Briefly speaking, the
Iranian revolution was a revolt against domestic dictatorship as well as the
international world system which the revolutionaries found unjust. The
Islamic Republic was thus built on the assumption that the bipolar world
system, divided between Eastern and Western blocs was not to provide
justice and security for all nations of the world, but it was only aimed to
serve the interests of the two superpowers and their satellites. Iran then
became an active member of the Non-Aligned Movement under the Cold
War, expressing a harsh opposition toward the interests of both the United
States and the Soviet Union in the Middle East.

Ayatollah Khomeinis famous doctrine Neither East, Nor West became the
main guideline of the Iranian foreign policy after the revolution.

Ayatollah Khomeinis famous doctrine Neither East, Nor West thus became
the main guideline of the Iranian foreign policy after the revolution. Under
this general doctrine, Irans priority was to maintain a unity among the
Muslim nations of the world, and eventually among all the oppressed
people, against the oppression of the existing world system. For some time,
this policy was called exporting the revolution abroad. However, this
terminology, as well as the content of the Iranian message, was not welcome
by most of the conservative Arab governments, who were trying to maintain
cordial relations with either of the two superpowers.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War, Irans foreign
policy has not changed in strategy. The main goal is to resist the United
States unilateralism in the world politics, through making an unannounced
alliance between developing countries. Although the term exporting the
revolution is formally abandoned, Iran has managed to expand its influence
over areas outside of its own region and even beyond the Muslim world,
notably in Latin America and Africa.
In sum, Irans main international goal today is to become a protesting
regional hegemony and world actor. For this, Irans foreign policy priorities
can be summarized as follows:
1. maintaining good relations with its neighbours, while gaining an
unarguable regional superiority which would also require containment
of Israel
2. making an alliance between developing countries, from Asia to Latin
America
3. leading a world opposition against Western dominance and
unilateralism over world politics and economy, however through ways
which would not end up in open conflicts.