IRAN’S PERSIAN GULF POLICY This book discusses the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran towards the states of the Persian Gulf from 1979 to 1998. It covers the perceptions Iranians and Arabs have of each other, Islamic revolutionary ideology, the Iran–Iraq war, the Gulf Crisis, the election of President Khatami and finally the role of external powers, such as the United States, in the region. Iran’s foreign policy has been more ideology based in the past but has become increasingly pragmatic. Today, Iran’s Persian Gulf policy does not differ greatly from that under the Shah. By tracing the policy over the past two decades, including a large number of interviews, the book helps to anticipate the relationship between Iran and the Gulf states. Christin Marschall completed her MPhil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies at St Antony’s College, Oxford, and received her PhD in History and Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University. She lives in London and travels frequently to Iran and the Arab world. The mightiest of the princes of the world Came to the least considered of his courtiers; Sat down upon the fountain’s marble edge, One hand amid the goldfish in the pool; And thereupon a colloquy took place That I commend to all the chroniclers To show how violent great hearts can lose Their bitterness and find the honeycomb. ‘The Gift of Harun al-Rashid’, W.B. Yeats IRAN’S PERSIAN GULF POLICY From Khomeini to Khatami Christin Marschall TO TIM First published 2003 by RoutledgeCurzon 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by RoutledgeCurzon 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. RoutledgeCurzon is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group © 2003 Christin Marschall All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Marschall, Christin, 1966– Iran’s Persian Gulf policy: from Khomeini to Khatami/ Christin Marschall. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Persian Gulf Region – Foreign relations – Iran. 2. Iran – Foreign relations – Persian Gulf Region. 3. Iran – Foreign relations – 1979–1997. 4. Iran – Foreign relations – 1997– I. Title. DS326.M315 2003 327.55′009′048 – dc21 2002031694 ISBN 0-203-41792-5 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-41941-3 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0–415–29780–X (Print Edition) CONTENTS Acknowledgements vii Note on transliteration x Introduction 1 1 Foundations of Iran’s Persian Gulf policy 3 Iran’s history in the Persian Gulf 3 The foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran 10 Conclusion 24 2 Impact of the Islamic revolution 25 Export of revolution 26 The hajj and ideological rivalry with Saudi Arabia 45 Conclusion 60 3 The 1980s: impact of the Iran–Iraq war 62 From the Provisional Government to the outbreak of war, 1979–1980 62 Relations during the Iran–Iraq war, 1980–1988 69 Conclusion 98 4 The 1990s: Gulf Crisis, islands dispute and President Khatami 100 Relations in view of the Gulf Crisis, 1989–1992 101 The Abu Musa crisis and its impact on Iranian–Gulf relations 121 Developments in the relationship under President Khatami 142 Conclusion 148 v CONTENTS 5 Regional security co-operation 149 The Iranian idea of collective security in the Persian Gulf 150 The compromise solution: confidence-building and bilateral co-operation in all fields with eventual security co-operation 166 Conclusion 177 6 External factors 179 The United States in the 1980s: from Carter to Reagan and Bush 179 The United States in the 1990s 186 The Europeans and the Persian Gulf 195 The effects of the external factors on Iran’s relations with the Gulf states 198 Conclusion 200 Conclusion 201 Note on sources 207 Interviews 208 Notes 211 Bibliography 249 Index 268 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work could not have been written without the tremendous help and kindness of many people. Above all I would like to thank Roger Owen at Harvard and Mohiaddin Mesbahi at Florida International University without whose constant advice and support this work could not have been completed. As this is a study of contemporary history – and more importantly of a politically sensitive subject – I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all those who kindly gave me interviews and openly discussed their views on Iranian–Gulf relations. Many did not hesitate to spend several hours explaining the complex situation in the Persian Gulf, and to intro- duce me to their friends and colleagues. Their names are recorded in the section preceding the Bibliography. I am most grateful to many more I was privileged to meet. These include many high-ranking officials, diplomats, academics and journalists who asked not to be mentioned by name. Without their insight I could not have accomplished this work. The research for this study was conducted in many countries and I should like to thank people in the order of my travels, and will give the posts they held at the time. The journey began in the United States. Gary Sick and Larry Potter of Gulf2000 provided me with useful names and addresses in Iran and the Gulf countries for which I owe them gratitude. I am equally indebted to the Bahraini Ambassador to the United States in Washington DC, H.E. Muhammad Abdul Ghaffar, the Omani Ambassador, H.E. Abdullah M. al-Dhahab, the Kuwaiti Ambassador, H.E. Muhammad S. al-Sabah, the Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations in New York, H.E. Kamal Kharrazi, and the Representative of the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS) at the Iranian UN Mission, Seyyed Muhammad Kazem Sajjadpour. Without their support I would not have been able to conduct my primary research. I first travelled to Bahrain, where I met with great kindness and hospi- tality. I am thankful to Omar al-Hassan of London and the staff at his Gulf Centre for Strategic Studies in Manama. From there I went to Kuwait where I owe a special debt of gratitude to various people. Mohammed Abou Ali arranged for introductions to several vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS officials in Kuwait. I thank him and his colleagues at al-Shall. I also deeply appreciated the help of the staff at the Kuwaiti National Assembly who provided me with numerous Arabic documents and newspaper articles. I then travelled to Oman. Here, as everywhere else, I was overwhelmed by the warmth and friendliness of everybody. Harith al-Ghassany and Asya Lamky welcomed me into their house and I would particularly like to express my gratitude to Ali Lamky. I would also like to thank H.E. Ahmed Yusuf al-Harthy, Chief of the Arabian Affairs Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for his help in organising my interviews at the Foreign Ministry. I am grateful to H.E. Saif Bin Hashil Al Maskery, Undersecretary for Tourism, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, for his support. My last stop in the Southern Gulf was the UAE. Again, I am deeply grateful to many. Jan Stransky had introduced me to Paul Huygelen of al-Ain, for whose support I owe special appreciation. I am equally grateful to Mona Kamar at the United States Information Service in Abu Dhabi. Frauke Heard-Bey kindly let me use her archives at the Centre for Documentation and Research, and Jamal S. al-Suwaidi did not only spend time discussing UAE–Iranian relations, but also provided me with useful material from the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research. I am also indebted to Marion Abbas, H.E. Dr Andrzej Kapiszewski, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland and to various diplomats in Abu Dhabi and Dubai at the German and American Embassies. My final destination was Iran. Here, too, people welcomed me with extreme kindness and support. I am indebted to H.E. Ali Khorram, Senior Advisor to H.E. Ali Akbar Velayati, as well as H.E. Baqer Asadi and H.E. Mr Izadi at the Foreign Ministry. H.E. Abbas Maleki, Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, offered me his views and also provided me with indispens- able Foreign Ministry and IPIS publications. Sir John Moberly and Edmund Herzig introduced me to Sohrab Shahabi, the Chairman of the Scientific Council of the Institute for Political and International Studies. IPIS, the Foreign Ministry’s research institute, assisted in organising interviews and access to archives. I thankfully acknowledge the support of its Director, Ahmad Hajihosseini, as well as Abbas Haghighat, Head of the Persian Gulf and Middle East Research Center. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Farideh Farhi, Jalil Roshandel, Maryam Daftari, Zahra Taheri and Farnaz Amini for all their help. Special thanks go to Hadi Semati and Nasser Hadian at Tehran University. I am particularly grateful to Mahmood Sariolghalam of the National University, who gave me his insight and organised many of my interviews. I would also like to thank Said Hajjarian, Deputy for Political Studies at the Center for Strategic Studies, and his colleague, Mr Bakhshian, for their kind assistance. I am equally grateful to Ittilaat newspaper archives for their patience and help. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I should like to thank the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Science for their generous financial support which enabled me to conduct this research in the first place.