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Iran
Concept of Neither East nor West
During the Revolution, Khomeini and his associates condemned
both the United States and the Soviet Union as equally malevolent
forces in international politics. They believed the United States,
because of its close relationship with the regime of the shah,
was the superpower that posed the most immediate danger to their
revolution. Thus, they referred to the United States as the "Great
Satan," a term that continued to be used in 1987. In contrast,
they regarded the Soviet Union, because it had not been as closely
involved with the shah, as the "Lesser Satan." The United States
represented the West, or capitalism, while the Soviet Union represented
the East, or socialism. The revolutionaries embraced Khomeini's
view that these materialist ideologies were ploys to help maintain
imperialist domination of the Third World, and thus they were
inherently inimical to Islam. Consequently, a major foreign policy
goal from the time of the Revolution has been to preclude all
forms of political, economic, and cultural dependence on either
Western capitalism or Eastern socialism and to rely solely upon
Islam.
The most dramatic symbol of the revolutionary determination to
assert independence of both the East and the West was the hostage
crisis between Iran and the United States. Although the seizure
of the American embassy in Tehran in November 1979 initially had
been undertaken by nongovernmental groups to demonstrate their
anger at the admission of the shah into the United States, this
incident rapidly developed into a major international crisis when
Khomeini and the Revolutionary Council gave their ex post facto
sanction to it. The crisis lasted for 444 days, during which time
those political leaders who were most hostile to Western influences
used it to help achieve their aim of severing diplomatic and other
ties between Tehran and Washington.
After 1980 Iran adopted positions opposed to those of the United
States on a wide variety of international issues. Although officials
in both countries eventually approved of some secret contacts,
most notably those involving clandestine arms shipments to Iran
from Israel and the United States during 1985 and 1986, the bitterness
that the hostage crisis left on both sides made it difficult for
either country to consider normalizing relations as late as the
end of 1987.
The West European allies of the United States are also viewed
with suspicion. France, in particular, has been singled out as
a "mini-Satan" that collaborates with the United States in the
oppression of Muslims. Although initially Iran's political elite
were favorably disposed toward France because Paris had provided
refuge to Khomeini when he was expelled from Iraq in 1978, relations
between the two countries steadily deteriorated after 1980. Two
issues have been the source of the Iranian hostility: France's
support of Iraq, especially its provision of weapons, and the
fact that since 1981 France has been the headquarters for most
of the expatriate opposition groups. France and Iran also had
opposing perspectives on several international issues, most notably
developments in Lebanon. In the spring of 1986, the French government
initiated a policy of trying to reduce tensions with the Islamic
Republic. As part of this effort, France pressured the Mojahedin
to close its Paris headquarters and agreed to repay the Iranian
government part of a US$1 billion loan that had been extended
to a French nuclear energy consortium during the reign of the
shah. France was unwilling, however, to accede to Iran's demand
that it cease arms sales to Iraq. Consequently, relations between
Paris and Tehran vacillated between correctness and tension.
This was dramatically illustrated in July 1987, when the two
countries became involved in a major diplomatic confrontation.
The Iranian embassy in Paris provided haven to an Iranian national
who had been summoned to appear in court in connection with a
series of terrorist bombings in the French capital. Although France
broke diplomatic relations with Iran over this issue and a series
of related incidents, both countries seemed determined to salvage
their rapprochement policy. In December France agreed to expel
more Iranian Mojahedin activists and to repay Iran a second installment
on its outstanding loan, in return for Iranian mediation efforts
in obtaining the release of French citizens being held as hostages
in Lebanon. Diplomatic relations were restored as of the end of
1987.
Iran's postrevolutionary relations with the Soviet Union and
its allies have been significantly less dramatic. Tehran has expressed
its opposition to numerous Soviet international policies. For
example, Iran severely criticized the Soviet Union for dispatching
its troops into Afghanistan at the end of 1979 and took the lead
several months later in denouncing Moscow at a conference of foreign
ministers of Islamic countries. Soviet support for the Marxist-Leninist
regime in Kabul continued to be a source of friction between the
two countries in 1987. Soviet support of Iraq, especially the
provision of weapons, has been another area of contention between
Moscow and Tehran. Iran also has accused the Soviet Union of assisting
Iranian opposition groups, especially the Tudeh. Nevertheless,
Iran and the Soviet Union have maintained diplomatic relations,
and the two countries have striven to keep their relations correct,
if not always cordial.
Although Iran remained distrustful of the Soviet Union's international
policies, it generally avoided injecting its anti-imperialist
ideology into economic relations. Thus, trade with the Soviet
Union became relatively important after 1979. This included not
only direct trade between Iran and the Soviet Union but also transit
trade from Iran through the Soviet Union to markets in Europe.
Tensions over economic matters continued, however, particularly
over the issue of natural gas shipments to the Caucasus republics
via the pipeline that had been constructed before the Revolution.
When in 1980 Moscow resisted Tehran's attempt to raise the price
charged for this natural gas, the pipeline was closed. In the
summer of 1986, the two countries worked out a new agreement but
as of December 1987 natural gas shipments had not been resumed.
Data as of December 1987
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