Abstract
This chapter explores various Iranian views on Obama’s foreign policy and analyzes how Obama’s initiatives on foreign policy impacted bilateral relationships between Washington and Tehran. In many areas, the relationship between these two countries did not change over Obama’s eight years in office. Obama’s policies and initiatives did not alter Tehran’s foreign policy or its efforts to be a regional power. Nor did Obama fundamentally change the situation of human rights in the country. President Obama did soften the language and approach to Tehran. His decision to abandon George W Bush’s confrontational language (Axis of Evil) may have contributed to an improved climate that allowed the nuclear talks to make progress. However, aside from the nuclear agreement—which should not be underestimated—much of the bilateral relationship between Washington and Tehran remained the same.
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Notes
- 1.
Constance Duncombe, “Representation, Recognition and foreign policy in the Iran-US Relationship.” European Journal of International Relations, 22 (3) 2016, 622–645.
- 2.
Barbara Ann Rieffer-Flanagan, Evolving Iran, (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2013), Chapter 6; Chintamani Mahapatra, “US-Iran Nuclear Deal: Cohorts and Challenger.” Contemporary Review of the Middle East, 3(1) (2016) 36–46.
- 3.
Evolving Iran. Afshon Ostovar has argued that even the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) with its reputation for hardline political positions, “is at once both a champion of Iran’s revolutionary ethos and a pragmatic organization, with an approach to strategic affairs that comes closer to realpolitik than Islamism.” Afshon Ostovar, “Soldiers of the Revolution: A Brief History of Iran’s IRGC,” Foreign Affairs, September 7, 2016.
- 4.
For example, Khomeini criticized the Status of Forces Agreement that the Shah negotiated with the United States: “The government has sold our independence, reduced us to the level of a colony, and made the Muslim nation of Iran appear more backward than savages in the eyes of the world.” Ayatollah Khomeini, Speech October 27, 1963. Ayatollah Khomeini, Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini, translated and annotated by Hamid Algar (Berkeley, CA: Mizan Press, 1981), page 182.
- 5.
Karim Sadjapour, “Reading Khamenei: The World View of Iran’s Most Powerful Leader.” Accessed January 22, 2017. http://carnegieendowment.org/files/sadjadpour_iran_final2.pdf
- 6.
Ali Khamenei, Speech on June 3, 2016. Anyone who “trusts the U.S. has committed a great mistake and will suffer the consequences.” For an English translation, see Iran Primer http://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2016/jun/03/khamenei-iran-will-not-cooperate-us
- 7.
Nazila Fathi and Michael Slackman, “As Confrontation Deepens, Iran’s Path Is Unclear”, New York Times, June 18, 2009. Accessed January 22, 2017. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/19/world/middleeast/19iran.html. American Embassy Ashgabat, “Iran Post-Election,” Classified Cable, June 15, 2009. Accessed January 22, 2017. https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/09ASHGABAT757_a.html
- 8.
Dana Hughes, “Iran’s Ahmadinejad Says America Entrusted Itself to the Devil” ABC News, September 26, 2012. Accessed January 22, 2017. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/irans-ahmadinejad-america-entrusted-devil/story?id=17328593
- 9.
Nazila Fathi and Michael Slackman, “As Confrontation Deepens, Iran’s Path Is Unclear”, New York Times, June 18, 2009. Accessed January 22, 2017. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/19/world/middleeast/19iran.html. American Embassy Ashgabat, “Iran Post-Election,” Classified Cable, June 15, 2009. Accessed January 22, 2017. https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/09ASHGABAT757_a.html
- 10.
William Burns, Undersecretary for Political Affairs, Statement before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Washington, DC, December 1, 2010. Further sanctions were established in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012.
- 11.
Burns went on to describe the most critical elements of UN SC Resolution 1929: “Targeting the central role of the IRGC in Iran’s proliferation efforts; banning for the first time all Iran activities related to ballistic missiles that could deliver a nuclear weapon; sharply limiting Iran’s ability to use the international financial system to fund and facilitate nuclear and missile proliferation; and for the first time highlighting formally potential links between Iran’s energy sector and its nuclear ambitions.” William Burns, Undersecretary for Political Affairs, Statement before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Washington, DC, December 1, 2010.
- 12.
Joby Warrick, “Sanctions relief could strengthen hand of Iran’s reformers, but perils remain,” The Washington Post, January 17, 2016. Accessed January 22, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sanctions-relief-could-strengthen-hand-of-irans-reformers-but-perils-remain/2016/01/17/ce942272-bc87-11e5-b682-4bb4dd403c7d_story.html?utm_term=.fd7b1c8c3be9
- 13.
There were a few meetings in early 2013 in Oman between Iranian officials and the Obama administration to test the waters on the nuclear impasse.
- 14.
He served in parliament and on the Assembly of Experts. Some commentators have referred to him as a reformist in the Khatami tradition. Rouhani has referred to himself as a moderate. He has been unwilling to directly challenge the Supreme Leader or the political system on human rights as Khatami did during his years in office. He may be most accurately understood as one of the more moderate pragmatic conservatives who possesses a willingness to compromise.
- 15.
“Rouhani: Sanctions Deepening Iranians’s Hatred for West,” Fars News Agency, August 28, 2013. Accessed January 22, 2017. http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13920606001568
- 16.
Iran does not have formal political parties. Instead, there are ideological factions that tend to share political ideas. These ideological coalitions can be quite fluid at times.
- 17.
Hadi Ghaemi, “Iran’s HardLiners Crack Down as Their Base of Support Narrows” World Politics Review, June 26, 2016. Accessed January 22, 2017. http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/19141/iran-s-hard-liners-crack-down-as-their-base-of-support-narrows
- 18.
Fars News, “IRGC US Still Remain Iran’s Arch Foe,” November 1, 2014. Accessed January 22, 2017. http://en.farsnews.com/print.aspx?nn=13930810001550 “During the 1990s, the IRGC became the standard-bearer of hardline politics. All forms of social and political reform, and any hint of warming relations with the United States, were anathema” (Ostovar).
- 19.
Fars News, “IRGC US Still Remain Iran’s Arch Foe,” November 1, 2014. Accessed January 22, 2017. http://en.farsnews.com/print.aspx?nn=13930810001550 “During the 1990s, the IRGC became the standard-bearer of hardline politics. All forms of social and political reform, and any hint of warming relations with the United States, were anathema” (Ostovar).
- 20.
Shahram Chubin, “The Iranian Nuclear Riddle after June 12,” Washington Quarterly, 33, no. 1 (January 2010): 163–72, at 165.
- 21.
Christopher Thornton, “The Iran we do not see… The Iran We Don’t See: A Tour of the Country Where People Love Americans,” The Atlantic, June 6, 2016. Accessed January 22, 2017. http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/06/the-iran-we-dont-see-a-tour-of-the-country-where-people-love-americans/258166/; Julie Ray, “Opinion Briefing: Iranians’ Outlook for U.S. Relations,” February 28, 2012. Gallup. Accessed January 22, 2017. http://www.gallup.com/poll/153002/Opinion-Briefing-Iranians-Outlook-Relations.aspx
- 22.
US Institute of Peace, Iran Primer, “Poll 2: Iranian Views of the US” July 13, 2016. Accessed January 22, 2017. http://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2016/jul/14/poll-2-iranian-views-us
- 23.
US Institute of Peace, Iran Primer, “Iranian Opinions on Rouhani, Elections” http://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2016/mar/31/poll-iranian-opinions-rouhani-elections; US Institute of Peace, Iran Primer, “Iranian Views of the Nuclear Deal,” July 13, 2016. Accessed January 22, 2017. http://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2016/jul/14/poll-1-iranian-views-nuclear-deal
- 24.
John Kerry, Press Conference, July 14, 2015, Vienna, Austria.
- 25.
US sanctions related to human rights violations, terrorism and its ballistic missile program would not be affected by the JCPOA. Ibid.
- 26.
Thomas Erdrink, “Ayatollah Khamenei Warns Iran’s Government Against US Deceptions,” New York Times, January 19, 2016. Accessed January 22, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/20/world/middleeast/ayatollah-ali-khamenei-iran.html
- 27.
Ali Khamenei, Speech on June 3, 2016. Anyone who “trusts the U.S. has committed a great mistake and will suffer the consequences.” For an English translation, see Iran Primer http://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2016/jun/03/khamenei-iran-will-not-cooperate-us
- 28.
Rick Gladstone, “Iran’s Supreme Leader on America: Don’t Trust, Don’t Cooperate,” New York Times, June 3, 2016. Accessed January 22, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/04/world/asia/iran-supreme-leader-khamenei.html?_r=0
- 29.
Thomas Erdrink, “Iran’s President says Donald Trump Can’t Tear up Nuclear Pact, New York Times, December 6, 2016. Accessed January 22, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/06/world/middleeast/hassan-rouhani-donald-trump-nuclear-agreement.html?_r=0
- 30.
Iran has had a long relationship with the Assad regime dating back to the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. President Hafez al-Assad was one of the few leaders in the region to assist Iran as it found a very bloody war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Most Arab states supported Iraq not only because Saddam Hussein’s regime was nominally Sunni, but also out of fear that a spread of the Islamic Revolution could destabilize their countries.
- 31.
Afshon Ostovar, “Sectarian Dilemmas in Iranian Foreign Policy: When Strategy and Identity Politics Collide,” November 30, 2016. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Accessed January 22, 2017. http://carnegieendowment.org/2016/11/30/sectarian-dilemmas-in-iranian-foreign-policy-when-strategy-and-identity-politics-collide-pub-66288
- 32.
Afshon Ostovar, “Soldiers of the Revolution: A Brief History of Iran’s IRGC,” Foreign Affairs, September 7, 2016.
- 33.
Fars News Agency, “Quds Force Commander: Iran to Support Syria to the End.” September 3, 2013. Accessed January 22, 2017. http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13920613001181
- 34.
Ali Khamenei, Speech on June 3, 2016. Anyone who “trusts the U.S. has committed a great mistake and will suffer the consequences.” For an English translation, see the Iran Primer of the US Institute of Peace online: http://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2016/jun/03/khamenei-iran-will-not-cooperate-us
- 35.
The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, March 20, 2013.
- 36.
Akbar Ganji, The Road to Democracy in Iran, (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 2008), 21–22.
- 37.
See State Department Human Rights Reports from 2010–2015.
- 38.
Kenneth Katzman, “Iran: Politics, Human Rights, and U.S. Policy,” Congressional Research Service, October 25, 2016. CRS Report RL 32048.
- 39.
State Department, Human Rights Report 2015. Accessed January 22, 2017. http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm?year=2015&dlid=252923
- 40.
Karim Sadjadpour, “Iran: Happiness among Hardliners.” November 11, 2016.
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Rieffer-Flanagan, B.A. (2018). Obama’s Legacy: The View from Persia. In: Maass, M. (eds) The World Views of the Obama Era. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61076-4_10
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