What is President Barack Obama leaving behind for his successor in the White House? Well, the situation in the Middle East looks a bit worrying after the lifting of international sanctions on Iran. Practically, the international community has rehabilitated Iran, shown trust in its leadership and political stances and overlooked all its international, regional and even domestic transgressions — committed by a regime that practices its own brand of ‘democracy’. It is a regime whereby the government doesn’t govern, but is rather led by a ‘Supreme Guide’ who directs and commands in liaison with a militia named The Revolutionary Guards.
Still, one must not belittle the achievements of Iran’s ‘non-governing government’. Ever since Hassan Rouhani was elected president, a new set of realistic priorities emerged in Tehran, which is totally different from former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s strident dogmatism.
‘PR’ has become the hallmark of the ‘Rouhani Era’ in political, economic, media and security/military matters, as approved by the ‘Guide’ and Revolutionary Guards. Among the shining stars of this era is Foreign Minister Mohammad Jawad Zarif and his team of diplomats, intelligence experts and dealers-fixers active with foreign lobbies, especially in the US.
However, there are those who claim that such a significant shift has not been achieved by Rouhani’s election but rather his election was very much part of its script. The dealers-fixers working for the Iranian regime in the US, UK and other major Western powers were not implanted and nurtured after the election of the new president, but have been active in influence buying and connection building for decades. The seeds of ‘rehabilitating Iran’ were sown some time ago. In fact, it is enough to remember the ‘Iran-Contra’ deal in the days of the bitter vitriol between Ronald Reagan’s Washington and Ayatollah Khomeini’s Tehran, whereby all talk of the ‘Great Satan’ was totally forgotten.
In such a context, the Rouhani presidency becomes exactly the much needed development to affect a strategic change in the geo-political scene of the Middle East. Somehow this is not much different from the emergence of Daesh, an organization born in unfamiliar circumstances with a weird chemistry and dubious actions.
True to form, here comes Iran to present to the world its credentials not only as a ‘partner’ in economic development and rewarding investments, but also in fighting terrorism and defending and promoting human rights — including minorities’ rights!
The latter claim could not have been sold had it not been for two facts. First, Iran’s diligent investment in its ‘tentacles’ abroad. Second, its understanding of politics is based on interests and not on principles and morality.
These two facts have always been part of Tehran’s thinking since 1979 and have allowed the current pragmatic leadership to benefit from services provided by politically influential figures in many global capitals. The next step that followed was convincing the public in America and Europe that Iran was a ‘useful’ partner in several areas unlike its “regional adversaries,” and a player who knows how to play the ‘game’ even if it has to resort to outbidding those ‘adversaries’ in upholding the virtues of Islam, revolution and confronting imperialism and Israel.
The “Arab Spring” has come to reveal a very important truth. One needs to confess. The Arab world neither anticipated it nor was aware of its dimensions and costs. Indeed, until this moment, and despite the momentous events that shook and continue to shake the Arab countries affected by that ‘Spring’, Arab public opinion still seems divided about where it is leading, and is confused as what to do.
This situation has allowed the three major non-Arab powers in the Middle East — Israel, Iran and Turkey — to flex their muscles and declare their right to defend their “vital interests” in the region. As far as Israel is concerned, the Likud party and its extreme right-wing coalition partners now feel free to destroy any chance of a peaceful settlement with the Palestinians that would ensure the right of self-determination. On another front, Sunni-Shi’ite polarization has now reached the stage of demographic cleansing and state partitioning, as we see in several parts of Syria and the Diyala Province in Iraq.
