IRAN'S FOREIGN POLICY TOWARDS THE UNITED STATES: RETROSPECTIVE PERSPECTIVE – 1988-1993

Abstract

Abstract

In the Persian Gulf, Iran is the largest and potentially the most powerful country. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iran's foreign policy toward the US has been profoundly affected by ideological considerations. The Iranian government's ideology was essentially based upon the late Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini's interpretation of Islam as it applies to the whole structure of society in all spheres of life.1 According to Shireen Hunter, the Islamic Iran's vision of the world is polarised into two lines: power and ideology. She writes that Imam Khomeini had bifurcated the world into two opposite camps: those countries who are “arrogant” or “oppressors” (Mustakbarin- the then two superpowers, primarily the US), and the “down-trodden” or the oppressed (Muztasafin- Muslim and the Third World countries).2 Imam Khomeini believed in the universal validity of Islam and its export to the world. In his words, Islam “is not peculiar to a country.... even the Muslims. Islam comes for humanity.... Islam wishes to bring all humanity under the umbrella of justice”.3Consequently, Imam Khomeini laid the principles of Iran's foreign