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Masaryk University, Brno MASARYK UNIVERSITY, BRNO Faculty of Social Studies Department of International Relations and European Studies Political influence of Iran in the Middle East after 2003 Bachelor‟s thesis Author: Oleg Kuznetsov (UČO 330969) MVZ-EVS 2013 Supervisor: PhDr. Pavel Pšeja, Ph.D. Brno 2013 I hereby declare that this thesis I submit for assessment is entirely my own work and has not been taken from the work of others save to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. Date: Signature 2 Acknowledgment: As the author of this thesis, first of all I would like to thank my supervisor PhDr. Pavel Pšeja Ph.D. for his patience, help, and advices during writing this work. I would like to acknowledge my family for giving me moral support during writing the thesis. I also would like to acknowledge Ms. Shahira Amin and Rohit Jobanputra for their support, kindness and friendship. 3 Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 6 I) Iran’s overview ................................................................................................................................................. 7 Iran’s political system and overview of the country ....................................................................................... 7 Political situation and balance of power in the beginning of 2003 before American invasion in Iraq and role of Saddam's regime in regional politics ................................................................................................... 9 Post –Saddam’s Iraq ...................................................................................................................................... 10 Elections in Iran and changing of the political course and impact of Iranian nuclear program ................... 13 Iran-Syria relations ........................................................................................................................................ 17 Conflict in Lebanon and forming of new alliances in the region ................................................................... 18 Development of Middle Eastern region till 2011 .......................................................................................... 22 Arab Spring and its impact to policy and region ........................................................................................... 25 Part III ................................................................................................................................................................ 31 III) Iranian foreign policy ................................................................................................................................... 31 Iranian foreign policy in common and in region ........................................................................................... 31 New instruments in Iranian foreign policy .................................................................................................... 34 Relations between Iran and regional countries ............................................................................................ 36 Relations between Iran and non-regional countries ..................................................................................... 40 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................................... 43 Appendix ........................................................................................................................................................... 45 Sources .............................................................................................................................................................. 47 4 Abstract The main topic of this thesis is about Iranian influence in Middle East after 2003. After Islamic revolution and the Iran-Iraq war Iran has been pushed aside from a regional politics. Despite it Iranian regime was keeping strong regional ambitions. And after downfall of Saddam Hussein‟s regime in Iraq has given in my opinion hope and chance to the Iranian regime for realization of these ambitions. As a result of its policy Iran became one of key players in Middle Eastern region. This work is divided in three parts. In first part is written general overview about what is Iran as state and its political system for better understanding. Second part is about changes in balance of power in Middle East and also factors which made impact on these changes. In third part is written about Iran‟s foreign policy. At the end will be drawn conclusions, of which it will be possible to answer the questions posed in the study and to examine the hypothesis. 5 Introduction Situation in Middle East is one of the main topics in media nowadays. This region occupies important geostrategic position and possesses huge stocks of natural resources. A lot of supreme powers during a history tried to take hold Middle East or to distribute their influence in this region. One of them was Iran. In imperial period of Achaemenid‟s and Sassanid‟s Iran occupied significant territories and the memory of imperial past is still alive among Iranian people. After Islamic revolution and the Iran-Iraq war Iran has been pushed aside from a regional politics. Despite it Iranian regime was keeping strong regional ambitions, and after downfall of Saddam Hussein‟s regime in Iraq has given in my opinion hope and chance for the Iranian regime to retrieve its commanding position through its robust policies to become one of the key players in Middle Eastern region. The main aims of this thesis are: 1. To research how Iranian influence has changed the regions political environment since 2003. 2. To study the ratcheting balance of power shifting in the region. My hypothesis is that the fall of the Saddam Hussein‟s regime paved the way for Iran to appear as a regional power in framing political agendas to influence their balance in middle-eastern region For achieving these goals I will use qualitative method of research. I chose this method because I 6 find it more feasible than quantitative methods. The research of this topic is mainly sourced from institutes official documents, books, analytical and scientific articles, interviews, magazines, newspapers and other media sources I will justify following question in appropriate to reach research goals:- Events influencing the change of Iranian position in the region after 2003. (In this work will be considered the unfolding events from 2003 to early 2012) This thesis will be divided in three parts. In first part will be written general overview about what is Iran as a state and its political system. In second part will be written about changes in balance of power in Middle East and also factors which made impact on these changes. The last part will be spoken about Iranian tools carried forward in laying foreign policy and its implications. At the end will be drawn conclusions, of which it will be possible to answer the questions raised in the study to examine the hypothesis. I) Iran’s overview Iran’s political system and overview of the country Iran is a country with a key geographical position in the Asian region due to its shared borders with Iraq and Turkey on the west, Azerbaijan and Armenia on the north, Turkmenistan on its northeast, and with Afghanistan and Pakistan on east.1 Iran also controls from its side half of Hormuz strait, which is geographical exit from the Persian Gulf – territory where is produced 25 % oil and 35 % gas resources in the world, and also must to be mentioned that Strait of Hormuz remains the gateway for export for oil and natural gas from the western to the eastern part of the world.2 Population of the country – around 75 million3 people Iran is multi-ethnical country.4 5 1 Country profile: Iran, Library of Congress. May 2008 http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Iran.pdf 2 “Iran in maps” by BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/06/iran_maps/html/default.stm 3 Iran profile” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14542950 4 “Profile Iran’s Jundullah militants” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8314431.stm 7 After the Islamic revolution in 1979 Iran became as Islamic republic of Iran. Since this time Iran‟s political system includes in itself parts from democracy and theocracy at the same time. That makes also big difference from other countries in region. Officially this ruling concept is called as concept of “Velyat e Faqih” – Islamic Shia religious law made by ayatollah Khomeini. 6 The structure of Iranian regime 7 Iran also has special concept of armed forces. De-facto its divided by two parts- Iranian Army and The Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution (aka Islamic revolutionary guard) . Islamic Revolutionary Guard is directly subordinated to the Supreme Leader. 89 So, the Iranian regime is the type of regime which has a unique combination of the republic and a theocracy, sometimes called as “Khomeinism”. The country is intertwined with secular and spiritual power, but a spiritual power, is above the secular. Thus it is possible to draw a conclusion that final decisions in politics are accepted by spiritual authority in the country and through so-called
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