Iran President Has Little Impact on Foreign Policy
The political climate in Tehran will be dramatically radicalized if Iran is subjected to sanctions or military strike
forbes: President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad on April 28 said that Tehran would pay no attention to U.N. resolutions requiring it to halt its nuclear work. His impact on Iranian foreign policy has been rhetorical rather than substantive. The regime is more pragmatic than his rhetoric would indicate. Tehran is seeking to exploit its unprecedented position of strength to bring Washington to the bargaining table.
Ahmadi-Nejad represents a younger generation of conservatives whose definitive political experience was the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War. They are represented in the 7th Majlis by the powerful Abadgaran (Developers) bloc. They reject Iran's turn toward pragmatism after the war and yearn for a return to the radical policy of "exporting the revolution," seeing opportunities to do so today in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine.
The role of the presidency in foreign policy, under the Rafsanjani (1989-97) and Khatami (1997-2005) administrations, was to act as the public face of the regime to the international community and to implement its policies, as formulated by the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), with the approval of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Ahmadi-Nejad has leveraged these powers in an attempt to steer policy in the direction of radicalism. However, beyond appointments and rhetoric, Ahmadi-Nejad has had little impact on foreign policy. This is evident in the key policy areas. Read more
forbes: President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad on April 28 said that Tehran would pay no attention to U.N. resolutions requiring it to halt its nuclear work. His impact on Iranian foreign policy has been rhetorical rather than substantive. The regime is more pragmatic than his rhetoric would indicate. Tehran is seeking to exploit its unprecedented position of strength to bring Washington to the bargaining table.
Ahmadi-Nejad represents a younger generation of conservatives whose definitive political experience was the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War. They are represented in the 7th Majlis by the powerful Abadgaran (Developers) bloc. They reject Iran's turn toward pragmatism after the war and yearn for a return to the radical policy of "exporting the revolution," seeing opportunities to do so today in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine.
The role of the presidency in foreign policy, under the Rafsanjani (1989-97) and Khatami (1997-2005) administrations, was to act as the public face of the regime to the international community and to implement its policies, as formulated by the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), with the approval of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Ahmadi-Nejad has leveraged these powers in an attempt to steer policy in the direction of radicalism. However, beyond appointments and rhetoric, Ahmadi-Nejad has had little impact on foreign policy. This is evident in the key policy areas. Read more
posted by exoplanet at 8:13 PM
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