MrJazsohanisharma

Raisi's tough stance on Western issues after winning the election: What does reality say?

Iran's newly elected hardline president, Ibrahim Raisi, has said he will not hold direct talks with US President Joe Biden, even if Washington lifts all sanctions on Tehran.

Iran president Ibrahim Raisi


Experts have questioned the direction in which the country's relations with the West will turn in the recent transition of power to Iran. 

Newly elected radical President Ibrahim Raisi is set to assume presidency power in August this year as a successor to moderate Hassan Rouhani. 

The radical leader is about to come to power at a time when Western nuclear talks with Iran are underway in Vienna, Austria. 

The nuclear deal will depend a lot on the foreign policy of Iran's next government and the country's economic future.

When the Rouhani administration was able to reach a six-nation nuclear deal with the West in 2015, it was seen by the Iranian people as a victory for themselves. 

Cause they got rid of long economic sanctions through this agreement. As a result, Hasan Rouhani won by a huge margin in 2017 in that streak of his reputation. 

But Iran was once again in trouble when the Trump administration unilaterally pulled out of the deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran. 

The cancellation of former President Trump's unilateral agreement led to strong criticism of the Rouhani administration at the time. 

So how long will it take for the ongoing nuclear talks to be finalized, whether the talks will end during the Rouhani regime or will be held by August or even if the Rouhani government reaches the final few, it is a matter of great concern to experts as to how sincerely the Raisi administration will abide by the terms of the agreement. 

Moreover, Raisi's image will also play a major role in determining the terms of the deal for the West.

Born in Mashhad, Iran in 1960, Ibrahim Raisi, now 60, joined the country's judiciary at the age of twenty. He has had unprecedented success at an early age. 

Gradually he entered the country's politics and at the same time became a very close confidant of The Current Ayatollah of Iran (the highest religious leader of the Shia community) Ali Khamenei. 

It is believed that he will be the Ayatollah of Iran after Ali Khamenei. And he was elected president as the first step towards achieving that goal.

Although Raisi came to power in a democratic way, there has been a lot of controversy about him and the country's elections this year. 

The debate over the election is that this election is the lowest since the 1979 Islamic revolution, with only 48 percent of the vote. 

In addition, the highest number of votes were rejected in this election, which is above 7 million. There are rumors that many candidates who have clashed with Raisi have not been given a chance to contest this time. Seven people were initially nominated. 

But in the end, 4 got a chance to participate in the final. As a result, a large section of the people has abstained from voting as the preferred candidate did not get a chance to participate. Ibrahim Raisi won with 62 percent of the votes polled.

The second debate about Raisi is that he is a "backlisted person" to the United States. He is a man sentenced by the European Union. Raisi has been accused by Western countries and human rights organizations of inhuman torture and murder of those who participated in the armed movement before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and one of his main accused is the newly elected President Ibrahim Raisi. 

Amnesty International, a London-based human rights organization, claims that the allegations against Raisi against humanity are investigated smoothly. 

So, let's say, these two issues will be one of the concerns of the West's relationship with Iran. There have already been such indications.

The West's demand for Iran to comply with the conditions will be lifted gradually only if the talks in Vienna to return to the nuclear deal are to be followed first. 

But Iran's supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has made it clear that they no longer trust the West and the United States. 

The deal must be eased for Iran by lifting sanctions at the outset and Iran will also abide by the conditions laid down.

Meanwhile, in the first press conference since Ibrahim Raisi's victory, he expressed a strong attitude towards the United States. 

He showed positivity towards the nuclear deal but told a press conference that Washington would not hold direct talks with US President Joe Biden even if he lifted all sanctions on Tehran. 

Raisi's radical remarks will show in a few more days how much the terms of the deal will be for Iran.

A month ago, regional arch-enemy Saudi Arabia showed some flexibility over Iran. Addressing Iran as a neighboring country, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Saudi-Iran would maintain cordial relations from a place of mutual interest. 

But within two days of his victory, newly elected President Raisi called Saudi Arabia a regional enemy and warned of an end to Houthi attacks in Yemen.

On the other hand, Israel, another hostile state, has also warned Western countries about Iran. Israel's newly elected radical Prime Minister Naftali Benett has urged Western countries to wake up against Iran, saying, "This is the last chance for world powers to wake up... And to realize who they are discussing with. "

Since the post-Shah regime, that is, since the Islamic Revolution of the 80s, Iran has become an enemy of Western countries and their allies. 

Western powers and the United States are now desperate to stop Iran's nuclear activities that began in the fifties. 

But Iran knows very well that Iran cannot equal the West in any way or win a face-to-face battle. So here the country is moving ahead with a different strategy. 

Iran has for many years given military and economic support to several groups considered terrorist groups to its Western and regional hostile states.

Iran has strategic ties with Lebanon's Hezbollah, Palestine's Hamas, Yemen's Houthi community. Iran also provides military assistance to The West and Bashar al-Assad of Syria, one of Saudi Arabia's most eye-to-eye operations. 

Iran has also set up a number of military bases in Syria for the welfare of President Assad, which is a major concern for Israel. Israel claims that Iran often destroys the Syrian Golan plateau occupied by Israel from these bases. 

Israel also attacked Iranian bases from the Ghulam Plateau. This is basically why Israel never wants Iran to have nuclear power. 

Israel always wants Iran's nuclear capabilities to be destroyed through direct resistance and not an agreement or dialogue. This is what Benet, an even bigger radical leader after Benjamin Netanyahu, is seeking.

After Trump lost the U.S. Presidential Election in 2020, When Netanyahu realized that the Biden administration would return to the nuclear deal with Iran, Israel killed Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsin Fakhrizadeh before Joe Biden took power.

Israel is also accused of carrying out sabotage at Iran's underground nuclear plant, Natanz. The purpose of all these discussions here is to show that the proxy war that Iran-Israel has been waging for many years may now intensify for the benefit of radical leaders of both countries. 

And at the same time, it has to be remembered that Israel is a very close ally of the United States.

However, no matter how radical Tehran is by holding the hands of new President Raisi, Iran has no alternative but to return to the nuclear deal with the West if it thinks realistically.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Iran had a foreign exchange reserve of $12.3billion in 2018, down from the fall in the export sector to just $4billion last year from US sanctions. 

At the same time, inflation has gone up to about 50 percent. In 2019, people took to the streets in at least 100 cities in the country when the government unilaterally hiked petrol prices. 

Amnesty International claims that at least 300 people were indiscriminately killed by the country's security forces at the time. 

There is also the impact of the Corona epidemic, the unemployment pressure, and dissatisfaction with the government. 

To rise from such a fragile state of the economy, Iran must return to a sustainable agreement with Western countries.

Despite his tough stance on Saudi Arabia, Raisi told his first post-election press conference that Iran's foreign policy will not only depend on the nuclear deal but also on the neighboring Gulf states. 

But in fact, Iran will never be able to stand upright to economic sway with the Gulf states alone, with the main representatives of Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the West being tough with the United States. 

Because now middle eastern countries are also beginning to become so-called modern.

The UAE, Bahrain, Sudan have already established diplomatic relations with US ally Israel at the call of former President Trump and several other Arab countries are following the same path. 

Since Iran does not have the option of a nuclear deal for economic liberation, such radicalization by newly elected President Raisi will bring nothing heavier than some more heavy conditions on Iran by the West.

But it is assumed that the Raisi administration believes in conservative policy but will understand its own good. Because of radicalization, bargaining with the West maybe a little longer, as well as the level of tension swells from time to time. 

Yet, to be fair, western powers are going to have a nuclear deal with Iran again unless there is a major disaster; Through which the tension souring the country's relations with the West is likely to gradually subside.



Jannatul Tazri Trisha
Alumni, Department of International Relations, Jahangirnagar University.
Email: trisha.jannat1112@gmail.com
Date:2021-06-23

Post a Comment

Comments will go through moderation before appearing, and are subject to our community guidelines, which can be viewed here

Previous Article Next Article