While much of the world has turned against Russia, negotiations between Western powers and the Islamic Republic continue. Emanuele Ottolenghi sees in the American and European determination to reach a compromise with an Iran uninterested in concessions a failure to draw the proper lesson from Vladimir Putin’s aggression. Both Tehran and Moscow are driven not by “rational calculations of self-interest,” but by their respective ideological zeal and a “determination to undermine and destroy the Western-[led] rules-based international order.” Attempts to accommodate either government, he concludes, will fail.
The ayatollahs’ Iran aspires to reassert Shiite predominance over the Sunni world, much like Putin’s Russia seeks to resuscitate the tsarist empire. Iranian mullahs hope to become the beacon of Islam beyond the region, much like Putin dreams of a pan-Slavic awakening; to emerge as leader of the oppressed of the earth, much like Russia seeks to undermine Western global dominance; and to persuade the downtrodden to embrace Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s vision as a banner of resistance against the Western-dominated international order, much like Putin appeals to Christianity, anti-capitalism, and anti-wokeness in his battle against America’s “Empire of Lies.”
Yet even after Putin upended all our illusions about resetting relations with Moscow and solving disputes amicably; even after he unleashed an unprovoked war of aggression against a defenseless neighbor; even after he has green-lighted the rape of cities and the wanton destruction of an entire nation, Washington’s Iran policy debate remains focused on the misguided belief—which the Biden administration shares with its Democratic predecessors—that well-placed safeguards (which the 2015 nuclear deal is lacking in any case) in exchange for economic dividends will not only constrain Iran’s nuclear quest but also potentially change Iran’s behavior. We tell ourselves that Iran is not Russia. It does not need to be to aspire to a greatness that will upend our world.
Read more on Tablet: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/accommodating-iran-will-be-no-more-successful-than-accommodating-russia