Future Government Must Put an End to Close-Mindedness and Backwardness in Foreign Policy

13 June 2013 | 18:25 Code : 1917313 Middle East General category
Excerpts of the speech made by Dr. Seyyed Mohammad Sadegh Kharrazi, a former deputy foreign minister, at the Iranian Diplomacy conference entitled “Foreign Policy and the Presidential Election”
Future Government Must Put an End to Close-Mindedness and Backwardness in Foreign Policy

These days, our country is faced with an important and decisive election. The most significant issue which is discussed in the positions and campaigns of the candidates is the issue of foreign policy. This shows that foreign policy has impacted all social, economic, and cultural aspects of the country. Foreign policy has always played a very significant role in Iran’s national power. Perhaps the reason is that the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is based on ideology. The ideas and thoughts of those who created the phenomenon that is the Islamic Revolution and the nature of documents like the Constitution are all indicative of an ideological foreign policy. Of course, we are not the only country which has ideological foreign policy.

While our country is facing this presidential election these days, we can see that there was a contradiction between the country’s foreign policy during the presidencies of the two previous presidents. The foreign policy of Mr. Khatami, from 1997 to 2005, was based on détente and confidence-building and the foreign policy of Mr. Ahmadinejad, from 2005 until today, has been based on prevention. It is obvious that the different approaches and viewpoints of the two presidents have impacted the concept of national power. This approach has affected Iran’s presence in the surrounding areas as well. This situation can also be seen in the development of the country.

Some people consider foreign policy in their point of power and some other see it as a preventive element for the development and progress of the country. This means that the idea is formed in the minds of some that foreign policy has been the cause of the country’s financial crisis and that this economic crisis has stopped the trend of development. Today, the borders of Iran’s political geography are not the same as Iran’s geographical boundaries. These borders are cultural and borders of thought, that show their cultural domination to the world, from the Balkans to the Indus Plain, from central Asia and the Qabchaq Plain to Yemen.

It is from this perspective that Iran’s role in reviving the Islamic nation can be evaluated. These effects are not limited to the slogans of one government. We must not assume that a government which chants the slogan of the 12th Imam and takes advantage of the religious beliefs of the people is the cause of this cultural influence. Incidentally, these slogans with such approaches prepare the ground for a historical deviation.

Our foreign policy today is confronted with numerous difficulties. Today we do not have a foreign ministry which manages foreign policy. Our foreign ministry today acts as the ministry of propaganda and protocols. The reason is that the best forces of this ministry have been eliminated from the scene. Unfortunately, due to this situation, our foreign ministry is faced with backwardness and close-mindedness. Human forces in the foreign ministry must be free so that they can pursue the righteous rights of the people of Iran through their creativity.

Today, the country’s foreign policy is faced with numerous challenges. There are serious examples of these challenges and threats. The nuclear dossier is one of these challenges. We had challenges with the IAEA, but we never had the types of crises that we have today. Iran’s nuclear dossier had three legal, technological, and political parts. But during the past few years, the trend and path of these affairs has gone towards a security crisis, but today Iran’s relations with the IAEA have been transformed into a national security threat.

Before this government, there had been no UN resolutions against us. The only resolution had been Resolution 598, but today several resolutions have been adopted in the Security Council against us. The problem is that in the highest and most important political institutions of the country and just 48 hours before the adoption of a resolution in the Security Council, they reported that this resolution would not be adopted. These reports are recorded and registered. But who is paying for such a miscalculation now?

We had no crisis with the Europeans. When we handed over the government to the present government, we had the best relations with Europe. Our political and economic relations with Europe were at the best and highest level. We had challenges with the US from the beginning of the revolution and this challenge cannot easily be solved. What we say to these people is that if we attempt to establish relations when we are faced with an international crisis, we will be dependent on them. What we see today is exactly the result of this approach. It is on this basis that they write several letters and send messages, but they receive no answer; they send a message but receive no response.

These people must now answer the question of what have we done in the region to expand our strategic relations with the Persian-speaking countries? What is our situation today with ECO member countries? We have serious challenges with our neighboring countries in the region and India and China, whereas these crises did not exist before this government.

Today we are surrounded by national security crises. We should see how we can eliminate the threat of terrorism, al-Qaeda, the Taliban, narcotics, and NATO. Many people in this government considered NATO’s presence an opportunity, while NATO is a threat to our national security. All these take place while, before this government, we were a center of stability in the region and our national interests were in line with the world community on many issues.

In the end, I must say that the theoretical problems which have existed in the 9th and 10th governments have left serious impacts on the situation of the country and our status in the region and the world. We hope that this election will be transformed into a public participation with the presence of the people so that these problems can be removed.

tags: foreign policy iran president election ahmadinejad