Iran’s Foreign Policy from Non-Alignment to ‘Look to the East’: Between Ideology and Pragmatism

Abstract

In the wake of the 1979 Revolution, the newly established Islamic Republic of Iran aimed to chart an autonomous foreign policy distinct from the Cold War’s binary dynamics, proclaiming a stance of ‘neither East, nor West’. From the outset, this non-alignment aspiration exposed the many diverse interpretations of this political concept, which served to accentuate Iranian particularism and factionalism. Despite the Islamic Republic’s commitment to the principles of non-alignment over decades, shifts in the global landscape and domestic economic imperatives have gradually pushed Tehran toward more conciliatory approaches with nations beyond the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), leading it to increasingly align itself with ‘the East’, particularly Russia and China. Since the latter half of the 1980s, Tehran has actively sought to bolster its foreign relations with countries beyond the NAM, culminating in recent developments such as the 2015 multilateral agreement on Iran’s nuclear program and the forging of the respective 20-year cooperation pacts with Russia and China. This article explores the transformation of Iranian non-alignment, examining the various political and economic factors that have compelled the Islamic Republic to uphold its revolutionary ideology of self-determination and independence, while at the same time pursuing more pragmatic policies seemingly at odds with the principles of non-alignment.

Keywords:

• Eastward strategy
• Iran
• look to the east
• Non-Alignment
• pragmatism
• revolutionary ideology

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Data is examined for both export and import from 1995 to 2006 (during the pragmatic and reformist presidencies in 2006 Iran). From 1998, Asian countries (mainly Japan, South Korea, and China) were the main destination for 2006 Iranian exports, whereas Western European countries were the most valuable for imports. After 2005, Asian countries like the United Arab Emirates, China, South Korea, and Turkey also became predominant in terms of import due to the impasse in negotiations over the 2006 Iranian nuclear program and the economic sanctions imposed by the United States and other Western countries. See (OEC Database, n.d.).