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Associated Press
- April 23, 2022 09:40 am
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Russia's war against Ukraine, however, has exposed how much Tehran has tilted toward Moscow in recent years, as the collapse of the nuclear deal with world powers fueled decades of hard-line anger at America. Members of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard train on Russian surface-to-air missile systems and aircraft. Hardline President Ebrahim Raisi visited Russian President Vladimir Putin in one of his first trips abroad
During its 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran embraced the rallying cry of "neither East nor West," rejecting the US and the Soviet Union, then embroiled in the Cold War. To this day, the phrase hangs over the doors of Iran's Foreign Ministry.
Russia's war against Ukraine, however, has exposed how much Tehran has tilted toward Moscow in recent years, as the collapse of the nuclear deal with world powers fueled decades of hard-line anger at America. Members of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard train on Russian surface-to-air missile systems and aircraft. Hardline President Ebrahim Raisi visited Russian President Vladimir Putin on one of his first trips abroad.
War also exposes internal differences
The war also exposes deeper fault lines within Iran's domestic politics as well. Among ordinary Iranians, there is great sympathy for Ukraine, a nation that staged the pro-democracy "Orange Revolution" similar to the "Green Revolution" that shook Iran more than a decade ago, but was crushed by force.
Iran's historic enmity with Russia has been combined with a broader sense among some that Moscow's support betrays the Islamic Republic's oft-stated message that it stands against the world's great powers.
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"We need to help the oppressed people of Ukraine, just as we support the people of Palestine and Yemen simply because they are being targeted by the powers that be," said Zohreh Ahmadi, a mother of two in Tehran's Sarcheshmeh neighborhood. "A bullying power is killing children and women in Ukraine".
Iran's state-controlled television network, whose English-language service Press TV describes itself as "the voice of the voiceless," is close to the Russian approach. He used Moscow's euphemistic term "special operation" to describe the early days of the war. Stories referring to the killing of civilians in Bucha by Russian forces include headlines falsely describing it as a "fake attack" or "provocation" on Press TV's website.
Part of the Iranian government's anger toward Ukraine may stem from the fallout from the downing of a Ukrainian airliner in 2020 by the Guard, which killed 176 people on board. Tehran denied for days it had shot down the plane before saying troops made a mistake after Iran fired ballistic missiles at US forces in Iraq in response to the killing of a top general.
Debate about the war even on Fridays
Ukraine's criticism of Iran became more direct over time. This is something Tehran's Friday prayer leader, Kazem Sedighi, mentioned in a sermon in March after Russia began its war against Ukraine.
"In the case of the plane, Ukraine misbehaved against us and misused it in support of the US," Sedighi said.
He also engaged in "whataboutism", common in both Iranian and Russian state media - setting up a separate thread to charge hypocrisy while avoiding the issue at hand.
"Wars take the lives of innocent people in Yemen and Syria, but there is a huge propaganda about Ukraine and this is racism," Sedighi said.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state affairs, said his nation opposed "war and destruction" while blaming America for the conflict. He also raised a long-standing suspicion he shares with Putin — that the US, rather than ordinary citizens, encourages what he described as the "colored fists" who support democracy.
For Khamenei, it's the memory of the Green Movement protests that followed Iran's disputed 2009 presidential election, which directly challenged the theocracy he leads. Iran's security services used violence and mass arrests to suppress the demonstrations. But unrest has resurfaced in recent years over economic issues.
"Why should we be silent?"
For Putin, it is Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution and its subsequent Maidan protest movement that toppled Kremlin-leaning politician Viktor Yanukovych.
But others within Iran's Shiite theocracy have raised concerns about Tehran's stance on the war.
Mohsen Aminzadeh, former deputy foreign minister under reformist President Mohammad Khatami, who was later jailed after disputed 2009 elections, went so far as to call Iran's position "very bad".
"It was probably the worst, most passive attitude of Iranian diplomacy since 1979," Aminzadeh recently told the monthly magazine Ayandeh Negar.
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On the streets of Tehran recently, 17 people were willing to talk to an Associated Press reporter about the war, while others were refusing. Of these, 12 supported Ukraine, three reiterated Iran's official position, and two supported Russia.
"I support Ukraine," said Sajjad, a 26-year-old computer programmer. Like the others, he spoke on condition that he be identified only by his first name for fear of reprisals. "The Russians are killing innocent people for nothing. Why should we be silent?”
A retired Iranian captain, Mehrdad, called Russia's reasons for the war "ridiculous" and similar to those used by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to launch a bloody eight-year war against Iran in the 1980s. apparently supporting Iran's Arab minority in its oil-rich southwest as a justification for its invasion.
"It's stealing Saddam's reasons for attacking Iran; possible threats from revolutionary Iran and the support of an ethnic group," said Mehrdad, 75. "With this excuse, any country can attack others - even Russia."
Historical influence
Ali Nemati, a 64-year-old retired teacher, hailed Putin as "very brave" for challenging NATO, also a new preoccupation of Iran's hardline government under Raisin. However, Iran has lived quietly next to Turkey, which joined NATO in 1952.
"Iran should support Russia as it is alone in its fight against imperialism," said Nemati.
However, in its imperial past, Russia waged numerous wars against Persia, which surrendered territory to the Tsar. Russia occupied Iran along with Britain in World War II to secure oil and trade routes in their war against Germany. After the war, Russia refused to leave, triggering the first global crisis of the newly formed United Nations.
That memory has not faded. Russia's brief use of an Iranian air base in the middle of the war in Syria, in which both supported embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad, similarly sparked widespread anger.
Russian game
Now, Iran may feel like a poker chip in a wider game than a player at the geopolitical table. A surprise demand from Russia for assurances on sanctions relief threw negotiations in Vienna over the defunct Iran nuclear deal into disarray. Russia's demand appears to have eased, while it now appears that US sanctions against the Guard remain the last hurdle.
The Iranians have noticed Russia's game.
"The point that Putin made a strategic mistake and sent forces to Ukraine and is now drowning in a Ukrainian quagmire cannot be a (logical) reason for Russia to take the deal hostage," conservative daily Jomhouri Eslami said in an editorial. of March.
Taxi driver Abbas Najafi suggested Iran stay out all together.
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"It is not our war. It is not our problem," he said. "We are under US sanctions now and we shouldn't be asking for more headaches."
Translated by: Albina Sahiti
