The Iranian Revolution at 30

Understanding Iranian Foreign Policy
R.K. Ramazani
Understanding Iran’s foreign policy is the key to crafting sensible and effective policies
toward Iran and requires, above all, a close analysis of the profound cultural and
psychological contexts of Iranian foreign policy behavior.
For Iran, the past is always present. A paradoxical combination of pride in Iranian cul-
ture and a sense of victimization have created a fierce sense of independence and a culture
of resistance to dictation and domination by any foreign power among the Iranian
people. Iranian foreign policy is rooted in these widely held sentiments.
THE RooTS oF IRANIAN FoREIGN PolICy
Iranians value the influence that their ancient religion, Zoroastrianism, has had on Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam. They take pride in 30 centuries of arts and artifacts, in
the continuity of their cultural identity over millennia, in having established the first
world state more than 2,500 years ago, in having organized the first international society
that respected the religions and cultures of the people under their rule, in having
liberated the Jews from Babylonian captivity, and in having influenced Greek, Arab,
Mongol, and Turkish civilizations — not to mention having influenced Western culture
indirectly through Iranian contributions to Islamic civilization.
At the same time, however, Iranians feel they have been oppressed by foreign powers
throughout their history. They remember that Greeks, Arabs, Mongols, Turks, and most
recently Saddam Husayn’s forces all invaded their homeland. Iranians also remember
that the British and Russian empires exploited them economically, subjugated them
politically, and invaded and occupied their country in two World Wars.
The facts that the United States aborted Iranian democratic aspirations in 1953 by over-
throwing the government of Prime Minister Muhammad Musaddeq, returned the autocratic
Shah to the throne, and thereafter dominated the country for a quarter century is
deeply seared into Iran’s collective memory. Likewise, just as the American overthrow of
Musaddeq was etched into the Iranian psyche, the Iranian taking of American hostages
in 1979 was engraved into the American consciousness. Iran’s relations with the United
States have been shaped not only by a mutual psychological trauma but also by collective
memory on the Iranian side of 70 years of amicable Iran-US relations.
R.K. Ramazani is Professor
Emeritus of Government
and Foreign Affairs at the
University of Virginia. He
has published extensively on
the Middle East, especially
on Iran and the Persian Gulf,
since 1954, and has been
consulted by various US administrations,
starting with
that of former President Jimmy
Carter during the Iranian
hostage crisis in 1979-1981.
12 The Middle East Institute Viewpoints: The Iranian Revolution at 30 • www.mideasti.org