4. UNITED STATES FOREIGN POLICY TOWARDS IRAN: FROM BUSH TO BIDEN (PERIOD 2000-2021)

 Author: Alvaro Montenegro P.

Five months after the events of 9/11, US President George Bush Jr. (2001-2009) coined the phrase "Axis of evil" in order to refer to "countries sponsoring terrorism”. These were Iran, Iraq and North Korea. Later, John Bolton would include Syria, Libya and Cuba.

In this context, US foreign policy towards Iran prioritized sanctions and isolation, even more strongly, during the Iranian presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-13).

At that time, taking advantage of the fact that the US was concentrated on the Middle East, Iran established a strong presence in Latin America [1] and Ahmadinejad opened 6 embassies in: Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Uruguay.

The Iranian president declared: "When Western countries tried to isolate Iran, we went to the backyard of the United States" [2]. Iran's relationship was very close with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Chavez with Ahmadenijad

In turn, President Obama (2009-2017) tried to implement a "pivot to Asia", convinced that most of the political and economic history of the 21st century will be written in that region. In this regard, the scholar Trita Parsi, former president of the National Iranian American Council, argued that the US "allocated many resources to the Middle East" and spoke of a possible war with Iran if the nuclear conflict was not resolved.

However, for a transition from the Middle East to Asia it was necessary to eliminate friction with Tehran. The change of Iranian government, from Ahmadinejad to Hassan Rouhani (2013-21) meant an opportunity to start a new cycle in the Iran-US relationship.

Rouhani studied at the University of Glasgow (Scotland), had connections with the West and was more moderate than his predecessor in his rhetoric towards the US.

Hasan Rouhani

And the diplomatic channels between Tehran and Washington –closed since the time of Bush Jr.– began to open up. The first contacts were in Muscat, Oman, a mediating country that facilitated secret meetings for a possible nuclear agreement. These meetings were attended by William Burns (2nd in the State Department) and his Director of Planning, Jake Sullivan [3] .

That effort concluded in 2015 with the "Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action", signed by the US, Iran and permanent members of the UN Security Council (Russia, France, China, United Kingdom). The deal limited Iranian uranium enrichment and stablished regular visits by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Thus ended two decades of containment policy from Washington and the acceptance of a Middle East with Iran as a regional power. But this "triumph of diplomacy"[4], was viewed with concern by US allies and enemies of Iran, especially Israel and Saudi Arabia. In May 2018, President Trump (2017-21) retired the US from the agreement.

Singnatories of the JPCOA

Trump's Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, wrote in the magazine "Foreign Affairs": "Not only did they not stop the Iranian nuclear ambition but they obtained new funds to support their malign activity"[5]. 

According to Pompeo, the US was open to a new deal, but Iran had to completely stop the enrichment of uranium, the production of ballistic missiles, free the imprisoned US citizens and end the sponsor of terrorism.

Trump's strategy resembled the old policy of containment: economic pressure and international isolation as methods to change the "outlaw behavior" of Iran, who naturally failed to comply with Pompeo's conditions. Furthermore, Iran asserted his right to enrichment of uranium with non-military objectives.

With Trump's defeat in 2021 and the assumption of Joe Biden as president, it was believed that the US would return to the 2015 agreement. At the end, the deal took place under the democrat administration of Obama with Biden as vice president.

Furthermore, the protagonists of the start of negotiations with Iran held key positions under Obama´s government: William Burns was appointed director of the CIA and Jake Sullivan National Security Advisor.

The Biden administration did not change the decision made by Trump and the US did not return to the agreement. Nonetheless still negotiations are being held.

Jake Sullivan, considered by many the "right hand" of Hilary Clinton

REFERENCES:

[1] Arnson, C; Etefandiari, H; Stubits, A. (Editors). (2011). Iran in Latin America: Threat or Axis of Annoyance? Washington, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

[2] Ortiz, Roman. (2009, Sep 10). “Ayatollahs cast growing shadow in Latin America”. The Atlanta Journal

[3] Parsi, Trita. (2017). Losing an Enemy: Iran, Obama and the Triumph of diplomacy. Yale University press

 [4] El Triunfo de la diplomacia es el nombre del libro de Trita Parsi el cual relata de manera detallada todo el proceso que llevo el llegar al acuerdo nuclear con Iran

[5]https://ge.usembassy.gov/confronting-iran-the-trump-administrations-strategy-october-15/

ALSO PUBLISHED IN (spanish):

https://www.eldiario.net/portal/2022/02/22/la-politica-exterior-de-estados-unidos-hacia-iran-de-bush-a-biden-periodo-2000-2021/