THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC IS A FOURTH GRADE, ISOLATED NATION: SCHOLAR
PARIS 20 Jan. (IPS) The ideologisation of the foreign policy, placing the Palestine issue above national interests and continued tension with the United States has reduced Iran to a fourth-grade power, limited to its own borders, according to a veteran journalist and scholar.
"We have to accept the fact that as a result of the above-mentioned factors, we have been lowered to a third grade country, if not a fourth, not even a regional power, let alone an international player", Dr Mohammad Mohsen Sazegara said.
Discussing in an interview with the Persian service of Radio France International (RFI) the latest developments in the region in the light of possible American attack on Iraq, he said not only Iran has constantly lost in the international arena, but also have not been able to get its due rights from neighbours, including Iraq.
"Let’s not cheat ourselves and be lured by diplomatic niceties that, ever since the time of Shah Abbas Safavi, have whispered into our ears, telling us you have as lion’s head and an elephant tail (meaning Iran is a great power, is located in a strategic position etc) and accept the fact that by basing our foreign policy on ideology, hostility with the United States and palestinisation, all that sums up our foreign relations in the past 25 years, we have been transformed into an isolated nation", he pointed out.
"I don’t know what answer those who dictate the foreign policy, above all the leaders of the regime, have for the people?" he asked.
Explaining the sudden postponement of the visit the Syrian President was to pay to Tehran on last Wednesday, Mr. Sazegara said ever since Bashar Asad replaced his father on the "Syrian throne", one has witnessed a major shift in the Syrian foreign policy, starting with rapprochement with the front of countries having better ties with Washington.
"As far as Iran is concerned, though Damascus is reported to be receiving some 9 to 10 millions dollars in cheap or gratis oil, yet, the Syrians have never been sincere and honest with Iran and any time we reminded them of their debts, they either ignored the demand or exported outdated, used products and in exchange, they sided with their Arab brethren against Iran, like in the last Arab Summit in Beirut, where they put their signature under a document claiming the sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates over the Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf.
Iran and Damascus considers themselves as engaged in an "strategic alliance", but as stated by Mr. Sazegara, Syria seldom defended Iranian interests at international or Arab forums, siding with other Arab states instead, prompting Iranian lawmakers to urge the government to ‘review" its ties.
Syria was the only Arab nation that sided with Tehran immediately after Saddam’s sudden and undeclared war against Iran, but the decision was motivated by the bitter antagonism between the two rival branches of the Ba’th Party in power in both Baghdad and Damascus than of love for the new Iranian clerical rulers.
As a result of this backing, Iran offered Damascus five million tons of discounted oil and another one million in gratis, crude that Syria would sell at international market rate, making huge profits, but without paying back Iran for the five millions.
In response to a question by RFI that what choices Tehran possesses to secure its own interests since Syria, by taking its distance from the Islamic Republic, has made its own choice in regard to the future in the region, Mr. Sazegara said
since Syria thinks about its national interests and considers a change in Baghdad as "imminent", it is trying to secure a rightful place in a post-Saddam Iraq where, one likes it or not, the United States would have the "lion’s share". "Eventually, he added, one has to place the Syrian’s decision to distantiate from the Islamic Republic into that perspective".
"Unfortunately, he went on, one thing our ideologised foreign decision-making administration does not think about is our national interest, as seen by the deception we suffered in Afghanistan".
It must be reminded that the Islam-based regime of the Islamic Republic place the interests of Islam above those of the nation and the people, as confirmed by the Assembly for Discerning the Interests of the (Islamic) System, but not the nation.
Also, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the unpopular and disputed leader of the regime, in his speeches, never or seldom mention the interests of Iran or talk about Iranian civilisation, but always stress on those of Islam and highlights Islamic values.
At the same time, and under his guidelines, Iran firmly supports radical Palestinian and Arab groups opposed to peace with Israel.
Mr. Sazegara, whose candidacy for the last presidential elections was rejected by the Council of Guardians, observed that Iran has important issues with Iraq, "chief among them is the 1975 Algiers Agreement that Saddam annulled it single-handed and attacked us. Right now, 14 years after the signature of the United Nations resolution 598, still the fate of this Agreement is in the limbo".
Mr. Ahmad Zeydabadi, an independent journalist associated with the nationalist-religious movement observed Sunday that even if the 598 resolution is applied, Iran would get "nothing" from Iraq in war damages, estimated by some Iranian officials at 1.000 billions US Dollars.
"That resolution, signed by the Security Council, only recognises Iraq as the side that started the war, but do not stipulate payment of war damages", he told the independent Iranian Students news Agency ISNA.
In the view of Mr. Sazegara, one major concern is that in case there is a change of government in Baghdad, the next administration, one that would certainly be backed by the United States, would, "if only to satisfy the public opinion", continue Saddam’s violation of the Algiers document. Therefore, and in order to guarantee our rights, it is vital for us to be equipped with adequate bargaining chips in the forthcoming international give and take that have Washington at the centre.
"Actually, this Agreement is the best and most articulate document we have ever signed, as it clearly defines our western borders, mostly in the Shat al Arab waterway. But unfortunately, I don’t see any bargaining taking place, aimed at securing our rights", he further said.
Asked how one can best conduct these bargaining, Sazegara replied:
"It is natural that before anything, we clarify our position vis a vis the United States. The road followed until now by the Islamic Republic had been one of wasting time and the nation’s potentials in wrestling with a powerful giant like America, resulting in enormous suffering and lost, like in the case of Afghanistan, where we ended as the main loser".
Washington cut off all ties with the Islamic Republic and imposed a unilateral embargo on Iran following the occupation of its embassy in Tehran by Iranian revolutionary students who took 55 American diplomats and staff as hostage for 444 days. ENDS IRAN ISOLTED NATION 20103