1 International Relations (IRE 108) ‘Critical junctures in IR’: Iran Week 7 Lecturer: Andris Banka

2 Iran is unique in that it has experimented with a form of government never before seen on earth, and kept that experiment alive. In Iran’s proud and rich history one can distinguish three different approaches to international order: 1) There was the policy of the state preceding the revolution: vigilant in protecting its borders, respectful of other nations’ sovereignties, willing to participate in alliances—in effect, pursuing its national interests by Westphalian principles. 2) There is also the tradition of empire, which viewed Iran as the center of the civilized world and which sought to eliminate the autonomy of its surrounding countries as far as its power could reach. 3) Finally, there is the revolutionary Iran. Iran styles itself as ‘the Islamic Republic’, implying an entity whose authority transcends territorial demarcations, and the Ayatollah heading the Iranian power structure is conceived of not simply as an Iranian political figure but as a global authority.

3 With Iran’s revolution, an Islamist movement dedicated to overthrowing the Westphalian system gained control over a modern state and asserted its “Westphalian” rights and privileges—taking up its seat at the United Nations, conducting its trade, and operating its diplomatic apparatus. Iran’s clerical regime thus placed itself at the intersection of two world orders, arrogating the formal protections of the Westphalian system even while repeatedly proclaiming that it did not believe in it, would not be bound by it, and intended ultimately to replace it. All contemporary political institutions in the Middle East and beyond were “illegitimate” because they “do not base themselves on divine law.” Modern international relations based on procedural Westphalian principles rested on a false foundation because “the relations between nations should be based on spiritual grounds” and not on principles of national interest.

4 Most governments derive their legitimacy from a single sourceMost governments derive their legitimacy from a single source. Iran’s would rest on two: popular sovereignty on the one hand, and the sovereignty of God on the other. Like most compromises, this one frustrated both sides. Iran would become, to a degree Khomeini had never envisioned, a republic. It would have an elected president and a parliament that could pass legislation. Far more than under the shah, it would require its people’s participation and assent. But at the same time, a cleric would supervise the country as its Supreme Leader and the vice-regent of God on earth. The Leader would command the armed forces. He would control the instruments of internal security and foreign policy. He would appoint the chief of the judiciary as well as a Guardian Council, made up mainly of clerics. The laws passed by the parliament, and the candidates for the parliament, would be subject to the approval of this Guardian Council, which would function as an arm of the Leader. Khomeini defended their work, arguing that an Islamic state had a duty to intrude on private life for the betterment of its subjects.

5 Until the Khomeini revolution, Iran and the United States had been de facto allies based on a hard-nosed assessment of the national interest by American presidents from both parties. Iranian and American national interests were treated by both sides as parallel. Both opposed the domination of the region by a superpower, which during that period was the Soviet Union. Both were prepared to rely on principles of respect for other sovereignties in their policy toward the region. Both favored the economic development of the region.

6 The Revolution unfolded blindingly fastThe Revolution unfolded blindingly fast. Martial law availed the shah nothing. A general strike paralyzed the country. Riots broke out. The shah appointed a conciliatory prime minister; replaced him with a general; and replaced the general with a prime minister meant to bridge the country’s now inevitable transition. The shah left Iran on January 16. Iranians danced in the streets. On February 1, Ayatollah Khomeini, at that moment the undisputed leader and symbol of the revolution, touched down at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport. “Imam Amad,” the newspapers reported: The imam has come. On November 4, 1979, some four hundred revolutionary students breached the walls of the gigantic American embassy compound in central Tehran. The students, under the direction of a group calling itself Students Following the Imam’s Line, stormed the embassy and took some fifty-one Americans hostage. Khomeini had not ordered the embassy seizure; by all accounts it took him by surprise. But over Bazargan’s objections, the ayatollah gave the students his blessing. This is where the US animosity towards the Iran starts.

7 The shah built Evin to house when he understood that his regime was fighting for its life. Throughout the country, the monarchy held as many as 7,500 political prisoners in the early 1970s. Among them were many of the men who would become the Islamic Republic’s leaders. The shah’s prisons were brutal and brutalizing, and Evin was particularly notorious. More than 7,900 Iranian political prisoners were executed between 1981 and 1985—at least seventy-nine times the number killed between 1971 and 1979. At Evin, according to one former prison official, every half hour from seven-thirty in the morning until five o’clock in the evening, prisoners were loaded onto forklifts and lifted onto six cranes from which they were hanged. This continued through the months of July and August 1988.

8 Nearly two years of lengthy, dense and highly technical discussions resulted in a 159-page treaty with five annexes. The landmark agreement -- called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action -- between Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers, including the United States, UK, France, China and Russia plus Germany. Under the deal, Iran must reduce its uranium stockpile by roughly 98%, phase out its centrifuges over the next 15 years, limit research activities, allow heightened inspections and ship spent fuel outside of the country. Iran stands to gain access to more than $100bn in assets frozen overseas, and will be able to resume selling oil on international markets and using the global financial system for trade. The complete supply chain of Iran’s nuclear complex will be subject to inspection by international monitors. This covers a spectrum ranging from facilities that enrich uranium to the uranium mines, the plants that produce centrifuge machinery and its storage facilities.