Shay Khatiri
Middle East Forum, Apr. 10, 2024
“It is diplomatic narcissism for Blinken to believe that the Islamic Republic shapes its policies in reaction to the United States.”
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 17, 2024, Secretary of State Antony Blinken argued that a Palestinian state would bring security to the Middle East. “Iran, [will be] suddenly isolated along with its proxies and will have to make decisions about what it wants its future to be.”
Such a prediction is naïve and misunderstands Islamic Republic policy and ideology. The Iranian regime’s official policy objective is not the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, but rather Palestinian sovereignty over all of Israel. Foreign diplomats and Israel itself might envision a two-state solution, but Iran’s leadership wants it all. This is why Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has called for “a referendum for self-determination amongst the original residents of Palestine” in which, in practice, Palestinians but not Jews can vote. Kamal Kharazi, a former foreign minister who now acts as a foreign policy mouthpiece for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, subsequently reiterated this position in an English-language interview on Al Jazeera.
It is folly to dismiss such rhetoric as for domestic consumption only, as American policymakers often do. Neither Amir-Abdollahian nor Kharazi chose a venue or format optimal for domestic propaganda. Their position has been an immutable pillar of the Islamic Republic for nearly 45 years and a revolutionary ideal before that. At a time when the regime hangs to power by a thread, violating its core principle will not buy it friends domestically but will delegitimize it among its most ardent supporters.
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