Abstract
President Barack Obama has inherited an unenviable legacy in relation to Iran. Relations between Iran and the United States have suffered blow after blow in the last three decades. The Iranian revolution of 1979 deposed a close US ally and brought to power a religious regime with the rallying cry of ‘Down with America’. Soon after, the US Embassy in Tehran was raided, resulting in 444 days of hostage taking. The damage caused by this episode was severe; it delivered shock waves of disbelief and indignation to the political elite in the United States and turned US public opinion against Iran. Tehran’s attempts at instigating a regional shake-up were a serious concern for Washington. In the meantime, Tehran developed close ties with the Shi’a community in Lebanon; helping form and train Hizbullah. This move threw Iran onto the centre stage of Arab–Israeli conflict – a position it has maintained and cherished ever since. In short, Iran’s relations with the international community, and the United States in particular, have been under severe strains for the last 30 years. This is what President Obama has inherited.
Barack Obama came to office with a promise of change. In terms of US policy towards the Middle East, change cannot be case-specific. Given the interwoven nature of politics in the region, policy change needs to be all-encompassing and universal. The Obama Administration appears attuned to this need and views its Iran policy as a component of a larger Middle East policy that includes the protracted Arab–Israeli tension, the Palestinian issue, pervasive authoritarian practices in the region, terrorism and, most pressing of all, the extraction of US combat troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. This is a refreshing change, allowing the US Administration to examine and deal with Iran in proportion to its significance.
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