economicsurvivalversusregionalhegemonyiran’sambiguous.docVIP

Economic survival versus regional hegemony: Iran’s Ambiguous Persian Gulf Policy Dr Bernd Kaussler Assistant Professor of Political Science, James Madison University Associate Fellow, Institute for Iranian Studies, University of St Andrews Introduction: In an editorial in July of 2007, Hossein Shariatmadari, an adviser to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, caused regional anxiety and alarmed US and European governments when he suggested that Bahrain should, after almost five centuries of separation, fall back under Iranian sovereignty. Three months prior to this controversial editorial, a naval unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps had arrested fifteen British sailors who had been patrolling the Shatt al Arab waterway. According to Iranian officials and contradicted by British authorities, the British servicemen had illegally entered Iranian waters. After over one week of mutual public condemnations and rising tensions, President Ahamdinejad, with great theatrical flourish, pardoned the sailors on the occasion of the birthday of the great prophet [Muhammad] ... and for the occasion of the passing of Christ” as “a gift to the British people.” However, during the same period, Tehran engaged in a series of confidence building measures with Arab neighbors and took part in unprecedented high-level talks with US officials on joint security efforts in Iraq. Whilst one could easily attribute this contradictory behavior in Iran’s foreign policy to an irate government, it seems to reveal a recurring pattern of Iranian diplomacy. Ever since the death of Iran’s revolutionary leader, Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989, the country’s foreign policy was torn between the myriad of political actors and rivaling factions in the country. These underlying ideological and partisan divides resulted in competing visions and policies of maintaining internal and external security on one side and diplomatic initiatives aimed at restoring Iran’s legitimate place within the inte