Training Session 11.03.2015

Iran

Roadmap

• MAP• Facts• Political system and Economy• Foreign relations

• Iraq• Israel and Palestine• Syria• Saudi Arabia• US• UN, nuclear crisis and sanctions

•Second-largest nation in Middle East•Central Location in Eurasia-geopolitical importance

Facts•Full name: Islamic Republic of Iran•Population: 75.6 million 89% Shia•Capital: Tehran•Major religion: Islam•Main exports: Petroleum, carpets, agricultural products•Founder member of: UN, OIC(Organisation of Islamic Cooperation), OPEC

Political system(1)

• Historical moments• 1906 first Parliament• 1953 coup orchestrated by US and UK• What followed was an increasingly autocratic rule• 1979 Iranian Revolution-Iran becomes Islamic Republic

• System is a combination of• Parliamentary democracy-Parliament and president democratically

elected(current Hassan Rouhani)• Religious theocracy-supreme leader(Ayatollah) elected by a

‘Council of Experts’(current Ali Khamenei

Political system(2)• Supreme Leader-most powerful position in the state

• Appoints• Commander of the armed forces• Directors of national radio and television• Heads of majour religious foundations• Members of national security councils(defense, foreign affairs)Can declare war with 2/3 Parliamentary majority• Stays away from everyday politics, but has great influence in all sectors• Can release fatwas

Incumbent: Ali KhameneiPredecessor: Ruhollah Khomeni

Political system(3)• President-highest democratically elected position• Answers to supreme leader• Can sign treaties/negotiate with foreign countriesand organisations• Concerned with national budget and planning• Appoints ministers(approval of Parliament)• Does not control military forces-needs explicit approval from Supreme Leader

Incumbent: Hassan RouhaniPredecessor: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad(screwed thing up in terms of IR)

Economy

• Mixed transition economy with large public sector• Dominated by oil and gas production

• Affected by export sanctions• Affected by falling oil prices

• Subsidies and price controls burden the economy• Mismanagement in labour market-high unemployment 10.4%• Main export partners: China, India, Turkey, South Korea and Japan• Exports halved by imposition of sanctions

Foreign relations with Iraq

• 1980-1988- war between Iraq and Iran• Relations have been tense ever since• Better after fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003• However, some support was shown by Iran when Iraq was invaded in

2003• Condemned invasion and advocated for UN reconstruction• Helped with reconstruction• Non oil exports to Iraq $1.8 billion in 2007 and $2.3 billion in 2008

Foreign relations with Israel

• Bad relations since 1979• Iran initially opposed the Partition Plan of Palestine(through which

Israel was created)• Still Iran was one of the first state to recognize Israel as a state. They

don’t recognise it anymore.• Repeated mutual threats • Ayatollah Khomeni declared Israel an ‘enemy of Islam’• Relations made worse by Iran funding Hamas(committed to

destruction of Israel by Jihad) and Hezbollah• Past president declared Israel should be ‘wiped off the map’

Foreign relations with Palestine

• Iran endorses the creation of a Palestinian state• Sees Palestine as under occupation by the Zionist regime• Support to Hamas has increased after them winning elections in the

Gaza Strip in 2006

Foreign relations with Syria

• Strategic ally, acts as a buffer• Iran is pro-Assad• It has offered logistic and military support during the civil war• Coordinated efforts against Israel and the US• Cooperate in smuggling arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon

Foreign relations-Saudi Arabia

• Ideological tensions because of interpretation of Islam(Saudi Arabia is predominantly Sunni, while Iran is predominantly Shia)

• Tense relations also because Saudi Arabia has been traditionally close the the US and the UK(although it tends to distance itself from them in terms of foreign policies)

• Saudi Arabia does not like Iran supporting Assad

Foreign relations-US

• Very tense• Coup in ’53 orchestrated by US and UK• ’79-’91 American embassy hostage crisis• 1988 Iranian passenger plane shot down• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad(previous president) accused US of

orchestrating the 9/11 attacks • 2013 Obama-Rouhani phone call

Nuclear crisis and sanctions(1)• Iran ratified the Treaty of

Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

• It promised that it would use the energy for peaceful purposes

• In 2003 evidence came out that Iran did not report on some enrichment and processing programmes

Nuclear crisis and sanctions(2)• It refused controls by the

IAEA(International Atomic Energy Agency)

• In 2006 the UN started imposing sanctions

• Sanctions were tightened in 2010

• Talks in 2011, 2013, and 2014

• Iran argues for its right to produce energy

Nuclear crisis and sanctions(3)• Sanctions imposed by the

UN, US and the EU• Include: export sanctions,

trade sanctions, freezing of assets, banning Iranian banks, travel bans for state officials, arms embargos)

• Given that they have been imposed for a long time, their efficiency in influencing policy is questioned.

Nuclear crisis and sanctions(4)• November 2014-Iran

agreed to roll back part of its program in exchange for removal of some of the sanctions

• Talks deadline extended to July 2015

Past Motions• THW lift sanctions of Iran• THBT America should welcome the involvement of Iran in Iraq• THBT western nations should launch pre-emptive air strikes

against Iranian nuclear facilities• THBT the West should actively include Iran in the resolution of

the Syrian conflict.• THBT Iran’s right to develop nuclear weapons should be

abholded.