Ayatollah Khamenei's Foreign Policy Orientation

Abstract

This article analyzes the beliefs and patterns of behavior of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in regards to the nature of politics, political conflicts, and the role of agency in shaping events, strategy, and tactics. To do so, it discusses Khamenei's personal background, ideological formation, personality, and foreign policy statements.

Notes

1. Philip E. Tetlock and Charles B. McGuire, Jr., “Cognitive Perspectives on Foreign Policy,” in G. John Ikenberry, ed., American Foreign Policy: Theoretical Essays, 5th edition (New York: Pearson, 2005), 484–501.

2. James David Barber, The Presidential Character: Predicting Performance in the White House, 4th edition (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1992).

3. Daniel Byman and Kenneth M. Pollack, “Let Us Now Praise Great Men: Bringing the Statesman Back in,” International Security, vol. 25 (2001): 107–146.

4. Margaret G. Hermann, “Assessing Leadership Style: A Trait Analysis,” available at http://www.perceptionmetrics.net/docs/LTA.pdf (accessed December 20, 2012).

5. Alexander George, “The ‘Operational Code’: A Neglected Approach to the Study of Political Leaders and Decision Making,” in G. John Ikenberry, ed., American Foreign Policy: Theoretical Essays (New York: HarperCollins, 1989), 483–506.

6. Ali Khamenei, “Biography of the Life of His Eminence Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” (n.d.), available at http://english.khamenei.ir//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=57&Itemid=20, (accessed September 20, 2012); Khamenei, “Negahi Gozara Beh Zendeginameh Hazrat Ayatollah Uzma Seyyed Ali Husseini Khamenei” [A Brief Biography of His Eminence Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Husseini Khamenei], (n.d.), in the Persian section at http://farsi.khamenei.ir/memory-content?id=5467, (accessed February 4, 2013). The Persian and English versions are not fully the same; Morad Veysi, “Zendegi Nameh Ayatollah Khamenei” [Biography of Ayatollah Khamenei], Radio Farda, multiple parts (March 31, 2012 through February 2013), available at http://www.radiofarda.com/author/22130.html (accessed August 9, 2012 to February 17, 2013); and Karim Sadjadpour, Reading Khamenei: The World View of Iran's Most Powerful Leader (Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2008).

7. Veysi, Part 1.

8. Veysi, Part 2. Tehrani was one of the most radical opponents of the Shah. He initially supported the revolution and was elected to the Assembly of Experts. However, he soon became an opponent of Khomeini, called for the overthrow of the regime, and went to Iraq during the Iran–Iraq War.

9. Khamenei, “Negahi Gozara.”

10. “Interview with Mrs. Khamenei,” Mahjubah, The Magazine for Muslim Women, vol. 100–101 (September–October 1992): 25–26, available at http://www.islam-pure.de/imam/others/others1992.htm, (accessed February 2, 2013).

11. “Interview with Mrs. Khamenei”; and Maziar Radmanesh, “Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei Kist?” [Who Is Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei?], originally published at Rooz Online July 4, 2009, republished at Gooya News, July 5, 2009, available at http://news.gooya.com/politics/archives/2009/07/090353.php (accessed July 5, 2009).

12. Radmanesh, “Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei Kist?”; and Akbar Alami, “Peyvandhay Famili Baazi Az Maghamat Va Ashkhas Siasi Dar Jomhuri Islami” [Family Connections of Some of the Officials and Personalities in the Islamic Republic], available at http://www.akbaralami.com/Public/ContentBody.aspx?ContentID=3177 (accessed November 12, 2009).

13. Radmanesh, “Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei Kist?”

14. Veysi, Part 3; and Khamenei, “Biography of the Life.”

15. Khamenei, “Biography of the Life.”

16. Navab Safavi was his nom de guerre. His real name was Seyyed Mojtaba Mir-Lowhi.

17. Homa Katouzian, Musaddiq and the Struggle for Power in Iran (London: I.B. Tauris, 1990), 160–161; Ebrahim Norouzi and Arash Norouzi, “Iran's Decade of Assassinations 1946–1955,” The Mossadegh Project, January 13, 2011, available at http://www.mohammadmossadegh.com/news/irans-decade-of-assassinations/ (accessed January 16, 2013). There is a lot of evidence that although Khalil Tahmasebi, of the Fadaian Islam, shot Prime Minister Razmara, the bullet that killed Razmara was shot by another assassin under the direction of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi and his man Asadollah Alam. See Katouzian, 83–84.

18. Mashregh News, “Bazgasht Rasmi Fadaian Islam Beh Siasat” [The Official Return of the Fadaian Islam to Politics], November 20, 2011, available at http://www.mashreghnews.ir/fa/print/80153 (accessed February 2, 2013). Abd-Khodae shot Fatemi in the stomach. Fatemi was badly injured but doctors were able to save his life.

19. Mehdi Khalaji, Apocalyptic Politics: On the Rationality of Iranian Politics (Washington, DC: Washington Institute for Middle East Policy, 2008), available at http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/pubPDFs/PolicyFocus79Final.pdf (accessed January 5, 2011).

20. Ervand Abrahamian, Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1993), 9.

21. Abrahamian, Khomeinism, 9.

22. Abrahamian, Khomeinism.

23. Veysi, Part 4; and Khamenei, “Biography of the Life.”

24. Veysi, Part 5.

25. Veysi, Part 4.

26. Hussein Ali Montazeri, “Aghay Khamenei Hagh Ham Nadareh Fatwa Bedeh” [Mr. Khamenei Does Not Have the Right to Issue Fatwa], You Tube, posted December 20, 2009, available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pahQw9vMHE8 (accessed December 24, 2009).

27. Veysi, Part 5.

28. Khamenei, “Negahi Gozara.”

29. Ibid.

30. Hojatolislam Seyyed Mehdi Andarzgoo, “Zanbili Por Az Mohemat” [A Sack Full of Ammunition], Khamenei.ir, August 22, 2013, available at http://farsi.khamenei.ir/others-memory?id=20815 (accessed February 23, 2013).

31. The supporters of Forqan carried out the attempted assassination. Forqan was comprised of the supporters of Dr. Ali Shariati. It was an Islamic group which opposed clerical rule. The would-be assassins were arrested and executed. Some have erroneously attributed the assassination attempt to the PMOI. See Veysi, part 14, available at http://www.radiofarda.com/content/f3_alikhamenei_bio/24818468.html.

32. Mohammad Ali Aminrad, “Hozor Ayatollah Khamenei Dar Roozhay Moshakbaran Dezful” [Ayatollah Khamenei's Presence at Dezful during the Rains of Rockets], Khamenei.ir, May 24, 2013, available at http://farsi.khamenei.ir/others-memory?id=19922 (accessed February 23, 2013).

33. Khamenei, “Biography of the Life”; and Kadmanesh, “Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei Kist?”

34. Masoud Kazemzadeh, “Foreign Policy Decision Making in Iran,” in Valerie Hudson and Klaus Brummer, eds., Foreign Policy Analysis Beyond North America (forthcoming).

35. Hussein Bastani, “Afsaneh va Vaghiyat Dar Mored ‘Mard Posht Pardeh’ Dowlat Ahmadinejad” [Myth and Reality on the ‘Man behind the Scenes’ of Ahmadinejad's Government], BBC, September 16, 2012, available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2012/09/120916_l39_analysis_khamenei_mashaei_ahmadinejad.shtml (accessed September 18, 2012).

36. Ali Khamenei, “Supreme Leader's Speech to Government Officials,” July 24, 2012, available at http://english.khamenei.ir//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1655&Itemid= 4 (accessed July 29, 2012).

37. IAEA, Report by the Director General, Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and Relevant Provisions of Security Council Resolutions in the Islamic Republic of Iran, November 8, 2011, available at http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Board/2011/gov2011–65.pdf (accessed December 20, 2011), especially p. 8.

38. Scott Peterson, “Inside the Mind of Iran's Khamenei,” The Christian Science Monitor, December 4, 2012, available at http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2012/1204/Inside-the-mind-of-Iran-s-Khamenei-video (accessed December 10, 2012).

39. Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, “Mosahebeh ba Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani: Vakavi Roykardha dar Howzeh Siasat Khareji” [Interview with Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani: Analyzing Viewpoints on the Realm of Foreign Policy], interview by Mahmoud Vaezi and Abbas Maleki, Rahbord, vol. 27 (Spring 1382) [Spring 2003]: 5–30.

40. You Tube, “Monazereh Shariatmadari va Asgharzadeh” [Debate between Shariatmadari and Asgharzadeh], posted November 2, 2012, available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vd0oWeZT94& (accessed November 4, 2012). The debate was held on Iran's state television, and lasted one hour and 54 minutes. Ebrahim Asgharzadeh was the number-two leader of the fundamentalist students who planned, organized, and attacked the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979, and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Asgharzadeh is a reformist member of the fundamentalist oligarchy. Shariatmadari closely reflects the views of Khamenei.

41. You Tube, “Monazereh Shariatmadari va Asgharzadeh,” (author's translation).

42. Ali Khamenei, “Pasokh Rahbar Enghelab Beh 10 Porsesh Dar Bareh Mobarezeh Tarikhi Mellat Iran Ba America” [The Answers of the Leader of the Revolution to 10 Questions on the Historical Struggles of the Iranian People with America], December 6, 2012, available at http://farsi.khamenei.ir/speech-content?id=21721 (accessed February 24, 2013).

43. Ibid.

44. Ibid.

45. Ibid.

46. Ibid.

47. Khamenei, “Supreme Leader's Speech to Government Officials”; and You Tube, “Monazereh Shariatmadari va Asgharzadeh.”

48. Ali Khamenei, “Bayanat Dar Haram Mottahar Razavi Dar Avalin Rooz Sale 1392” [Speech at the Shrine of the 8th Imam on the First Day of the Year 1392], March 21, 2013, available at http://farsi.khamenei.ir/speech-content?id=22233 (accessed March 24, 2013).

49. Ibid.

50. Ali Khamenei, “Bayanat Dar Didar Mardom Azaerbaijan” [Speech at the Meeting with the People of Azerbaijan], February 16, 2013, available at http://farsi.khamenei.ir/speech-content?id=22042 (accessed February 17, 2013, author's translation).

51. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon believes that Khamanei is stalling in order for Iran to complete its nuclear weapons. Anne Gearan, “Iran Could Use U.N. Talks as Cover to Build Bomb, Ban Ki-moon Says,” The Washington Post, February 14, 2013, available at http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013–02–14/world/37097672_1_uranium-stockpile-nuclear-program-nuclear-watchdog (accessed February 15, 2013).

52. Mehdi Perpinchi, “Cheragh Sabz Eslah-talabha Dar Vaziyat Ghermez Hastehee” [Green Light of the Reformists under the Red Nuclear Condition], BBC, July 18, 2012, available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2012/07/120718_ll_iran_politics.shtml (accessed July 19, 2012).

53. Khamenei, “Supreme Leader's Speech to Government Officials.”

54. Kasra Naji, Ahmadinejad: The Secret History of Iran's Radical Leader (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008); Masoud Kazemzadeh, “Shia Theology, Shia Fundamentalist Ideology, and Mutual Assured Destruction,” (forthcoming); Kazemzadeh, “Ahmadinejad's Foreign Policy,” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, vol. 27 (2007): 423–449; Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, “Speech: U.S. Worried About Emam Zaman,” (May 2008), available at http://www.iranian.com/main/singlepage/2008/u-s-worried-about-emam-zaman (accessed June 1, 2008); and Al Arabiya, “Ahmadinejad Says US Planning to Prevent Coming of Mahdi: US Wants to Stop Mankind's Savior: Iran Leader,” December 7, 2009, available at http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/12/07/93422.html (accessed November 10, 2010); and Golnaz Esfandiari, “Zionists Waiting to Kill Hidden Imam, Says Iranian Cleric,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, September 1, 2010, available at http://www.rferl.org/content/Zionists_Waiting_To_Kill_Hidden_Imam_Says_Iranian_Cleric/2145806.html (accessed November 10, 2010); ISNA, “Saeedi: Sepah Yaki Az Abzarhay Zamineh Saz Zohor Imam Zaman (Aj) Ast” [Saeedi: The IRGC is One of the Instruments for the Creation of Conditions for the Appearance of the 12th Imam], July 27, 2012, available at http://isna.ir/fa/news/91050603505 (accessed July 27, 2012); Tabnak, “Ahmadinejad: Sanad Darim America Mikhahad Joloyeh Zohour Imam Zaman Ra Begirad” [Ahmadinejad: We Have Document on the U.S. Wanting to Prevent the Appearance of the 12th Imam], December 4, 2009, available at http://www.tabnak.ir/fa/pages/?cid=75711 (accessed December 5, 2010); and You Tube, “CIA and MI6 Torture to Get Information on the Hidden Imam Zamaan In Iraq,” (2011), program produced by the Iranian state television, posted March 18, 2011, available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkWT0fcSfg8 (accessed March 20, 2011).

55. Peterson, “Inside the Mind of Iran's Khamenei.” On Jamkaran, see its official website at http://www.jamkaran.ir/ (accessed January 19, 2013).

56. Rouholamin Saeedi, “Enghelabiyn Farsoodeh Va Toteeh Jam Zahr” [Dilapidated Revolutionaries and the Conspiracy of Chalice of Poison], Kayhan, December 8, 2012, available at http://www.kayhannews.ir/910918/8.htm#other601 (accessed December 10, 2012).

57. Kamran Scot Aghaie, The Martyrs of Karbala: Shi’i Symbols and Rituals in Modern Iran (Seattle: WA: University of Washington Press, 2004), 134. Translation and comments in brackets are by Aghaie. “Hoseyn” is another form of spelling of “Hussein.” Ali Akbar is Imam Hussein's son.