Ninth Administration’s Diplomatic Record
Commentary by Heshmatollah Falahat-pishe, member of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign diplomacy committee
To evaluate foreign diplomacy of every administration, we should separate strategic and tactical levels, since in the Islamic Republic strategies are formulated by the National Security Council and normally the governments are considered as inferior to this institution.
Next is the level of tactics and their implementations which relates to the government. It is at this level that the government, particularly the ministry of foreign affairs, handles foreign diplomacy and realizes the strategies developed by the National Security Council. Therefore, I believe that the government is not fully responsible for the country’s foreign policies. Our overall strategy in foreign diplomacy during the past four years has been strictness and non-withdrawal over our nuclear rights and the government has handled this policy efficiently. In regional issues such as Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran retained its role as a key player.
Talking about the weak points, we can refer to some remarks which seemed to be unrefined. These imprudent remarks created unexpected and unnecessary tensions for our diplomatic apparatus and gave an excuse to the enemies of our country.In the ninth government, expert opinions and remarks had switched their position. In a conventional procedure, first the expert opinion is offered, and then, based on the opinion the government takes a stance. But in the ninth administration we saw that first a governmental figure made comments and then expert opinion tried to justify it. This is not an accepted routine in the international diplomacy, not even in our country.
If the government wants to have an efficient diplomacy in this term, it must provide the Strategic Foreign Diplomacy Council with a more important role. The council has held sessions during the past 4 years in which experts from different political camps attended and provided their opinion on various diplomatic issues. Their judgment had impact of decisions and measures in foreign diplomacy. This part has to be given a bigger role and our diplomatic stances should be based on experts’ judgment.
The Bill of Manouchehr Mottaki
In general, I think as the enforcer of our foreign policies, Manouchehr Mottaki was successful. But there is a question on the weight of ministry of foreign affairs in the ninth administration. That is more related to the attitude prevalent in this government and less to the weakness of the foreign minister. I believe that in some cases in order to advance its agenda, the ninth administration tried to circumvent foreign ministry. This is exactly one of the defects of our diplomatic modus operandi. Also, there were expert groups and advisors which should be consulted in diplomatic issues but that never happened. The government should trust ministry of foreign affairs and fully realize its potentials.
Next is the level of tactics and their implementations which relates to the government. It is at this level that the government, particularly the ministry of foreign affairs, handles foreign diplomacy and realizes the strategies developed by the National Security Council. Therefore, I believe that the government is not fully responsible for the country’s foreign policies. Our overall strategy in foreign diplomacy during the past four years has been strictness and non-withdrawal over our nuclear rights and the government has handled this policy efficiently. In regional issues such as Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran retained its role as a key player.
Talking about the weak points, we can refer to some remarks which seemed to be unrefined. These imprudent remarks created unexpected and unnecessary tensions for our diplomatic apparatus and gave an excuse to the enemies of our country.In the ninth government, expert opinions and remarks had switched their position. In a conventional procedure, first the expert opinion is offered, and then, based on the opinion the government takes a stance. But in the ninth administration we saw that first a governmental figure made comments and then expert opinion tried to justify it. This is not an accepted routine in the international diplomacy, not even in our country.
If the government wants to have an efficient diplomacy in this term, it must provide the Strategic Foreign Diplomacy Council with a more important role. The council has held sessions during the past 4 years in which experts from different political camps attended and provided their opinion on various diplomatic issues. Their judgment had impact of decisions and measures in foreign diplomacy. This part has to be given a bigger role and our diplomatic stances should be based on experts’ judgment.
The Bill of Manouchehr Mottaki
In general, I think as the enforcer of our foreign policies, Manouchehr Mottaki was successful. But there is a question on the weight of ministry of foreign affairs in the ninth administration. That is more related to the attitude prevalent in this government and less to the weakness of the foreign minister. I believe that in some cases in order to advance its agenda, the ninth administration tried to circumvent foreign ministry. This is exactly one of the defects of our diplomatic modus operandi. Also, there were expert groups and advisors which should be consulted in diplomatic issues but that never happened. The government should trust ministry of foreign affairs and fully realize its potentials.