Iran and Russia: Completing the Pivot to the East?

Abstract

Unlike the United States, which the Khomenist ideologues considered an implacable enemy of Islam, relations with Russia and its predecessor the Soviet Union were more nuanced. During the Cold War, Iran’s policy toward its neighbors to the East was significantly influenced by its alliance with the Western bloc led by the United States. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini denounced both Washington and Moscow in his famous “neither East nor West” address. As he put it, “It is not secret that the durability and consistency of the Islamic Republic of Iran is based on the policy of neither the East nor the West, and the abandonment of this policy will be betrayal of Islam and Muslims and the decline of the dignity, credibility, and independence of the country and the brave nation of Iran.” But other leaders were more attuned to neorealist considerations, as noted in Chap. 1.