Explaining Iran: Tehran's Aggression in the Post-Revolutionary Era as a Product of Factional Infighting

Abstract

What is the rationale behind Iran’s crisis behavior in the post-revolutionary era? Is there a consistent mechanism driving Iran’s behavior toward the West? This paper seeks to explain five military confrontations between Iran and the West between 1979 and 2007 in the framework of three explanatory models – the realist, the ideological and the domestic political models. The paper argues that Iran’s foreign policy post the Islamic Revolution era has been dominated by internal political infighting, which has led to the “hijacking” of the country’s foreign policy by conservative forces in the government every time Iran drew nearer to the West.

Keywords: Iran, Foreign Policy, IRGC, Islamic Republic

JEL Classification: Z00