A^M Ammmimmi
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a^m ~'^^\^ I AmmmimMi. ,.\»»*.^:s:^!m,-.,l fill.—-- 1 gr^m M.^j-'r ' --^'--'Tiip l'r'ii-^^1 r»*^5r M ,u,;,>;'^'^ P 1^ \M (illiri li'^^^r- =1 I! I in », I f«k& —;„ -i-7_iJJJt!^ 'i^' poircTT^F \m^^^i^ I J'' I SINCE 1979 *ii'i m ,'iivii, VI, -^^ H, ,-;^^,'ii«i;4 ABSTR. 'w^^\mi'^^~''•'' '^-'^- iUL-^^L I / <|i,H'SUBMITTED FOR THE •ifll '^ ^p'iif}^^^' !''^\*'''' 1=^ ~— !'ii'r\1nt=^^ ^^IIi'lbLL'J' I ! WEST ASIAN STUDIES 1111^ :^F ^If ^t^^llH ^ll w ^f !)fc BY I H 1- ^^^^'M'- '' i^r;4w/ 1111 t' *\li- riff if $i =^^'www JUi '* -=^e2^!iyjiiik!'^nder the Supervision of | '''L3fi ,'\?-*^ ''*'' Ir. Mohammad Iqbal |li >^ I', 'i II - — -r;^TJIJ^^AR; H MUSLIM UNIVERSITY M _:±l|i| ' l||^ tl-:?^Ullfyi''^^!llli 1990 llil ''i!,y^^==f|l||l|,^^:r5'fj ] ||t£-:fc,lyP', M-: _^t«, fji • J -^aia i l^!t!S ABSTRACT Iran has always been a vitalJy inriportant country mainly Dwinq to ats qeo-POJtacal signa^f i cance strategic location and economic potenti^J^- Lono be'fore the Islamic revolution the cottntry was hartdpi c *• ed b'- the Western powers especial 1,.' the United States to Ea"*eoiiard their interests in the region. Before thof^emi s rise to poyjer countr-.' v^as a military giant, a re£!iortal power and witnessed rapid rate oi economic growth. But with industrialization came mindless westernization and mc?c*erni ration under the aegis oi the U.S, which. in many respects, amounted to neo-imperi al ism, 0"ften American interests wefe safeguarded, ei."en given priori tv over all others, including Iran s ov*n interests. This antaqonired a powerful section o^ the country's mtel1igentia as well as the clergy who ultimately brought about the Islamic revolution m 1V7V, The Islamic revflutaon of Iran at the end of 70E was a remarkable historjc?tl event with i ^r reachmq conseatiences both for the reqion and the world at large. The revolution changed almost evervthang m Iran including its foreign policy. The present *hesis. aims to stud/ some important li dimension's of the Iranian foreign policy =ince the Islamic revolution in 197'?. The thesis consists of si>- chapters besides a brief introductory preface and the conclusion' . In the ensu. ing pages a brief summary LS presented with a view to giving an idea of Nhat has been discussed in detail in the thesis. The "first chapter, causes oi revolLition, deals with the reasons behind the l&la»T«ic revolution. Amonq numerous reasons only few such as econo^ftic, political and reliqiotss one's have been dealt in detail. It is. a Known -tact that before the? Khomeini era Iran had adopted an economic policy which favoured industrialization under the aeqis of the Westerners or western educated Iranians. The cocmtry s agriculture sector was grossly ignored.Moreover most of the industrialisation took place in biq cities 1 i »• e Tehran. Is-fahan, Sheraz, Abadan etc. The- city based industrialization and the neglect o-f agricultural sector naturally prompted rural population to migrate towards big cities causing a ..great deal o"* social dislocation and tension,The cities failed to qainlully employ or absorb the incoming masses -from the rural areas. As a result a lot of people, jobless or semi-employed began to live in slLims iii around big cities, whe^e develooed 4. 3h.*f-D division between the haves and the hove-rvots. This natural iv drew the attention of in tel I igen .. t£a and the radical c lergies .M^nv modern educated intellectuals 1 i» e Ali Shari.ati and clerics began to criticise and created an awareness against the wrong policies of the Shah, Radical clergies lite Khoriemi also came into open and bitterly attacked.not onlv the Shah's economic policies but also his attempts of modernization or wes terns, E^ t ion which they saw as being anti-Islamic. Thus trouble was brewing for long and burst out into open mass rebellitjn in l'?/"? leading ultimatelv to the Islamic revolution. Besides economic causes there were political I reasons fcsr the 1979 revolution. As usual tyrrant rulers do not tolerate critism and opposition however right and relevant. They resorte^to the liouidation at even their most sincere and qenuine critics and opponents. The Shah of Iran was no e>;ceDtion. He was a tyrr-ant oar excellence. When faced with criticism of his policy of mindless westerniiationj he unleashed a reign of terror, oppression and I iquid-> tioini, The SAVA*:, under His Majesty's command carried out secret trials and heinous missions of liquidation and murder both within and outside the country. iv Scores of tiujahidin-e fhalcj were either itllecl. oDenlv or mysteriously, or out behiod the bar where thev were subjected to indescrible brutal tortures, both physical and mental. Even intellectuals and ule»T\a were not soared, Ali Shariati who was the heart beat of thousand af ,• - educated Iranians was billed m London i" mysterLous circumstances. Avatollah ?'"homeini was ei-'iled, Man-.- leading ulema who remained m Er-an were subjected to various \ inds of punishments and even murdered. For instance in Mav l'^7g Shariatmadari • s house was attacied by secret agents and tv<o leading theologians wre billed. Not only active opponents of the regime but also their innocent family members also could not escape the onslaught. They were harrassed, tortured and imprisoned. This political ooDfession unleashed by the Shah ultimately became his own undoing and contributed a lot to his overthrow in 1777. Khomeini's charisfna and personality may be regarded as the third major cause o1 the- Islawuc. revolution. Iranian opposition to the Shah date>j bac»< to Mc^ssadeph s brief period in power. Bitt Mossadegh was. a n^it lonal i st leader. The religious opposition tc the Shah's rccjienae E tar tedder rather qot momentum with the arrival of Khovtemi on Iran s political Bcence a ^ ter the death of Ayatollah Br-tj jer-rj i. in 1962. (<'homeini who was a radical clergyman conceived o *" an Islamic Republic, nooo'sed to the Shah s monar-chical and dictatorial government. He was ver-atile, scholar, quide and political leader. He provided not only religious guidance but also led his people oo political fronts. He opposed the Shah's policy of Land Peform attacted the Capitulation Bill which gave unlimited rights and pris^i leges to all Ai^e'-icans in Iran and bitterly criticised his anti-religious policies. The Shah reacted sharply and e>rtled him in 1964. But this did not stop Khomeini. He continued to guide his people first from the holy city of Najaf and then from Paris. Ultimately he was able to overthrow the Shah. When he later escaped from the co«<ntry on IQ January, 1V79. f homeini returned tc' Iran in February, 197"? and led his country till his death in 1989. The eE'cond chapter olf the thesiE- dea3E. with the salient features and determmanq "CactorE €>i irari E. foreign policy. In brevity it firs-t taHes. imto Hair account o^ t^e 5t->ah s foreign policy whic*"- nas basicalliy pro-West ,andi then deals with the foreign relatiDns o"f Kho^seirsi ' E, ]ran. The foreign policy of J&lamic Iran, as a matter of ^act, can be vi described under three fi^ejids i.e. Pan-Is lamisn» or concern far Muslims th€? world ove? , Noo-s 1 ignmeo t t-^hich the [r^nians tried to oractise m its letter and soirit and anti- hegemonism which l.he' enshrined m the oopular slogan: "neither West nor East" by which they meant total rejection of the supremacy of thtf two super powers. The third chapter is devoted to deal with Iran 5 policy towards the United States. Iran under tiohd. Reca Snah had close and cordial relations with ^^merica. Whe" the Sha^ unleashed the reign «:-f terror and bega" to suppress all opposition to his ruthless rule he was ^'ullv supported by the U.S. The Shah's opponents when the>' ultimately succeeded condemned the U.S. as being a close collaborator of the old regime in crime against the Iranian people, ^homeif^i s ire against the U.S. was so strong that he used to call it Shaitan-e Buzurg, the great Satan. And when he came to power in 1979 the old pro-American policy was naturally changed and replaced by an ti-hegemonism ar>d an ti-Wes ternism, Relations between the two countries began to deteriorate on a tremendous pace which culminated in the seirure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4. 1979. This act was condemned by the U.S. and the world community. But the vil radical students y^o h^d seized the e(T»ba=s^ with the blessing of J'homeini oroved bevond doubt that the «PissiQn was used not on I v for diplomatic purooses but also fot- interference m Iran s internal affairs. To free its hostages Washington under too* a rescue mission in April 1780 which badly failed and further worsened the bilateral relations of the two countries, TQ taJ'e revenge by other <neans Anierica encouraged Baghdad to invade Irar m September 193o. During the long eight year's of war, despite Iran-contra deal the relations of the two country remained sour. America s indirect support to Iraq, shooting down of an Iranian pass^viger plane, re flagging of k'uwaiti oii tan^ers and destruction of the part o«" Iranian navy by the U.S, naval ships were the few maiof reasons behind continuous tense relations.