ABSTRACT
Iranian foreign policy in the 1980s was driven by the fundamental challenge facing the new-born republic, namely the war with Iraq. Unlike revolutionary regimes in other parts of the Third World which are mainly faced with the counter-revolutionary dynamics of civil war variety, the Islamic Republic, after the short euphoric period of its early days, not only was faced with a continuous myriad of domestic problems, but also was forced to confront a major outside challenge when the Iraqi forces crossed the Iranian border and occupied Iran in September 1980. Three organically interrelated dynamics dominated the conceptual framework in which Iranian foreign policy was constructed: the survival and consolidation of the regime, safeguarding the territorial integrity of the state and the pursuit of the elusive yet permanent objective of the export of Islamic revolution beyond the Iranian border. A historically passive state that at its worst (under Qajar and Pahlavi rule) reflected the extreme forms of dependency and at the best selective moments of its history (during the Amir Kabir and Mosaddeq eras) preached ‘negative equilibrium’ (movazene-ye manfi), now disrespectful of its geopolitical history and traditions, opted for an activist independent foreign policy. This policy was designed not only to release it from traditional barriers, but also to make it the harbinger of a new regional order.
