Burst of Light (4)

The Islamic Republic of Iran has been an active player in West Asia in spite of the efforts of the west, especially the Great Satan ,the United States of America, to isolate Iran in the regional and global scenes.

West Asia is the region which has been called Middle East by the west due to the west’s arrogant disposition and its imposed vision on the geographical areas. West Asia hasn’t been able to have an appropriate status in the regional cooperation because of the impacts of the colonial era. This has weakened the regionalism on one hand and led to the sinister presence of trans-regional powers on the other hand. Instead of convergence and regionalism this region has witnessed bloody conflicts and wars for over the past decades. This trend has had negative effects on the collective security of the region. Studying the American behavior vis-à-vis popular uprisings in West Asia and North Africa indicates that Washington has schemed for bolstering its interventionist role in the regional equations either directly or via NATO. Elisa Jones, expert of the regional affairs, says, “Middle East (West Asia) is the source of the largest oil and gas reserves in the world. The oil pipelines of the region can be considered as the vital vein of the global industry and military and it was through this region that the western states have got familiar with civilization.

West Asia is the region comprising the lands between the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf. The US presence in West Asia is aimed at securing its vested interests and not freedom and development of democracy in the region.”

Wing to the geostrategic and geopolitical position throughout history, West Asia (Middle East as the westerners have imposed the name on this region) has been on the spotlight of the regional and trans-regional powers’ attention. The US invasion and destruction of Afghanistan and Iraq and the interference of Libya by US’s European arm, NATO - as the arm of the UN Security Council – and the coordination of the Saudi assaults on Yemen can be evaluated in this framework. The US and the UK together with NATO are recruiting members from their Arab lackeys in the region are trying to present partial interpretations of the concept of security. The ultimate goal of these interventions is to implement the new map of the political geography of West Asia. This plot has been pursued on the basis of the three facets of democracy, human rights and terrorism. That’s why the increase or decrease of security and stability in one country impacts the security and stability of other countries in the region. This urges the regional states to encounter this crisis via strengthening their regional role. One of the hottest parts of West Asia is the area surrounding the Persian Gulf. Whenever this area undergoes a development or crisis, the trans-regional powers have rushed to the region to meddle in the administration of affairs. Political analyst, John Tang, states, “The revolution that took place in Iran, the Iran-Iraq war, the crisis of Kuwait and the crisis of Iraq can be enumerated among the events in which the trans-regional powers have intervened. Currently, too, there are two wars in Syria and Iraq whose trans-regional repercussions have impacted countries.”

The crisis in Syria and Iraq has made the region face numerous threats and opportunities. With the entrance of terrorism and the Daesh outfit in the regional equations, this has been revealed more than ever. Of course, in this event, too, the US interference in the region through supporting terrorist groups is quite obvious. Former American State Secretary, John Kerry, confessed this fact when he said, “The United States witnessed the emergence of Daesh hoping that this would put Bashar Assad under pressure. We thought that we could administer the issue to pressure Bashar Assad but suddenly we saw that the conditions were complicated, severely complicated.”

The increase of military presence of the US, UK and NATO in the security layers around the Islamic Republic of Iran requires to have a precise evaluation of the security doctrine of this alliance. Presently, the regional countries have a tough time to play their role. But the Islamic Republic, on the basis of logic and rationality, seeks to create dynamism and moderation; and has managed to resist against the unilateralism of the US and promote its effective role through engagement with the international bodies. Part of Ian’s international endeavours has materialized via attending the sessions of the UN General Assembly pertaining to the views based on the necessity of changing the constituents of the United Nations such as the Security Council.

Adnan Hussein Adnan, a specialist on Iran says, “Iran is an important and influential country in the Middle East and certainly this country has more right to be present and create balance in the region rather than the US which has come to the Iranian waters from a remote continent. Iran enjoys proper political-security engagement with the neighboring countries and even the international organizations and has stood against the bullying policies of the US.”

The Islamic Republic of Iran strongly believes that the regional conditions and features have created some sort of mutual security affiliation among the countries. Ethnic diversity, radical systems, interference of trans-regional powers and terrorism are some of the factors which have linked the security and stability of the regional countries together. These factors have been obviously visible in the course of the regional developments especially in Syria and Iraq.

The current experience in the region shows that political passiveness and dependence have caused terrorist outfits to emerge and the trans-regional powers intervene in the region which is the main factor for tension in the relations among regional countries. This trend of security and stability affects all countries in the region. Iran as a player in the Iraqi and Syrian crises, along Russia and a few other regional states, has made significant efforts to resolve these crises.

Elki Merghulan, an expert of political issues, argues, “Tehran, as a power in the region, has a key role in resolving the Syrian crisis. Iran and Syria are near to each other geographically and the infrastructures of the two countries are connected to one another. Iran’s role in politically resolving the Syrian crisis is undeniable. Of course, Russia has stances close to Iran. The cooperation of the countries has significantly contributed to solution of the regional issues particularly Syria.”

The intricacy of circumstances and developments has caused very difficult situation for independent countries to play their role in various crises. Moreover, this situation has granted the opportunity for the regional countries such as Iran, Russia and Turkey to be more attentive toward geopolitical issues of the region.

These factors altogether cause the Islamic Republic to pay closer attention to the regional issues and pushed Iran’s foreign policy toward regionalism. In view of this, Iran has used different strategies and adopted clear stances. The strategic policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is based on persuading the regional countries toward convergence and bolstering their regional role. This role has been demonstrated more robustly once Iran has administered regional and international organizations. Various obstructionisms for undermining Iran’s role as an important regional and global player have failed to push Iran out of the stage of regional and international key players.

Director of the Center for Middle East Studies, Sha’ban Kardash, notes, “The logic of geopolitical approach is mostly focused on the necessity of stabilizing the status and role of Iran in the politico-security equations of the region and the world. In fact, lack of interaction with Iran during the past years created strategic restrictions for western states in resolving regional crises and suppressing terrorist movements like Daesh. This development has placed the Arab countries in the process of accepting this strategic decision that Iran’s role cannot be ignored in the regional and even global equations. Presently, for resolving the Syrian issue, the United States is trying more than any other country for Iran’s presence in the negotiations and this translates into Iran’s role as a stabilizing agent for resolving this crisis.”

In corroboration of these remarks, one can refer to the emphasis of the UN and the EU on the necessity of Iran’s role in resolving the regional issues. This is an indicative of Iran’s capacities in the regional and international relations. Iran’s positive role in Afghanistan and Iraq and the UN insistence on Iran’s participation in resolving the Syrian issues are the sign of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s ability to actively impact the global issues. 

 The international view is focused on the fact that the Islamic Republic can raise important initiatives for cementing security and stability in the region. The Islamic Republic of Iran has proved that it can play a prominent role in fighting terrorism globally; for, Iran has been the victim of terrorism for years. Iran has shown that it seeks constructive engagement based on mutual respect and common interests with other countries. Hence it is not pursuing escalation of tension.

Political pundit, Julie Smith, said, “We can see that Iran after 38 years of facing with sanctions continues marching powerfully. I saw that Iran has made large and advanced Baavar 373 missiles that many countries, which were not under sanctions, were not able to make. Iran concentrated on strengthening itself in different domains and thus witnessed the fruit. Today Iran enjoys stability and security and the regional countries will definitely take into consideration Iran’s view in the regional decisions.”

As a matter of fact, Iran, after 38 years of the triumph of the Islamic

Revolution enjoys effective political stability, security and might in the region. This means that, in spite of the illegal sanctions imposed by the bullying powers, Iran has become more powerful than before. In view of this good cooperation has started between Iran and great countries like Russia.

The cooperation of the two countries in the struggle against the US unilateralism in the region and their military and advisory collaboration in Syria is an index of playing their regional role.

With a comprehensive look at Iran’s role in West Asia, it can be said that Iran’s regional strategy is eying peaceful coexistence, dismissing the political boundaries imposed by big powers and moving toward cultural and ideological engagement instead of conflict and confrontation. The Islamic Republic of Iran believes the current challenges of human community are so complicated that countries cannot remove them alone. Removing these challenges requires strategies, collective sense of assuming responsibility and strengthening active role of real international organizations rather than the already exiting bodies that are tools at the hands of the big powers.

RM/SS