“Iran’s newish president and foreign minister could hardly be more different in demeanor,” Arash Azizi writes. “President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks informally, often goes off script, and loves to crack jokes. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, a career diplomat who earned his [Ph.D.](https://kar.kent.ac.uk/86095/) in Britain, chooses his words with painstaking precision. But the two men have been saying the same things about the direction they want to see foreign policy take in Iran.
“The pitch goes something like this: We would like to make amends with the United States and Europe so that we can get the sanctions lifted from our economy. But we will not sacrifice our relations with Russia and China—the partners that have stood by us. Nor will we give up our support for the Axis of Resistance, the collection of Arab anti-Israel militias that plague the West and many regional Arab countries.
“In his first [press conference](https://x.com/abdolah_abdi/status/1835644179994624432) as president last Monday, Pezeshkian put it bluntly: ‘Those guys sanctioned us,’ he said, referring to the West. ‘These guys helped us,’ referring to Russia and China. But he also promised a peaceful approach to the West, even suggesting that the United States and Iran could be ‘brothers.’ A few days earlier, Araghchi said in a televised [interview](https://mfa.gov.ir/portal/newsview/753270): ‘We approach relations with Europe from a new angle and a new perspective,’ but ‘our priority lies elsewhere.’
Iran is a country of contradictions. Most of the population would support a (pre Erdoğan) Turkey style democracy. They have the natural resources to be one of the most developed countries in the region and there are a lot Iranians living abroad that would love to return to the country and help develop it. I don’t think that they would just align with the West but I think that they would take a neutrality stance towards peaceful development and prosperity.
Iran, like every nation with an ego, wants to have its cake and eat it. Simple fact of the matter is they are actively involved with multiple ongoing wars against the West which means they have no incentive to normalise relations.
3 comments
“Iran’s newish president and foreign minister could hardly be more different in demeanor,” Arash Azizi writes. “President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks informally, often goes off script, and loves to crack jokes. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, a career diplomat who earned his [Ph.D.](https://kar.kent.ac.uk/86095/) in Britain, chooses his words with painstaking precision. But the two men have been saying the same things about the direction they want to see foreign policy take in Iran.
“The pitch goes something like this: We would like to make amends with the United States and Europe so that we can get the sanctions lifted from our economy. But we will not sacrifice our relations with Russia and China—the partners that have stood by us. Nor will we give up our support for the Axis of Resistance, the collection of Arab anti-Israel militias that plague the West and many regional Arab countries.
“In his first [press conference](https://x.com/abdolah_abdi/status/1835644179994624432) as president last Monday, Pezeshkian put it bluntly: ‘Those guys sanctioned us,’ he said, referring to the West. ‘These guys helped us,’ referring to Russia and China. But he also promised a peaceful approach to the West, even suggesting that the United States and Iran could be ‘brothers.’ A few days earlier, Araghchi said in a televised [interview](https://mfa.gov.ir/portal/newsview/753270): ‘We approach relations with Europe from a new angle and a new perspective,’ but ‘our priority lies elsewhere.’
“This is a vision riven with contradictions. Pezeshkian has been clear (as has his boss, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali [Khamenei](https://www.asriran.com/fa/news/985493/%D9%85%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%B8%D9%85-%D8%B1%D9%87%D8%A8%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%84%D9%88%DB%8C%D8%AA-%DA%A9%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%AA%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D9%88-%D9%85%D8%B9%DB%8C%D8%B4%D8%AA-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%85-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA-%D9%85%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AA%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA%DB%8C-%D9%86%D8%A8%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%87-%D9%BE%DB%8C%D8%AF%D8%A7-%DA%A9%D9%86%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%86%DA%AF%DB%8C%D8%B2%D9%87-%D9%85%D8%AE%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D8%AA-%D8%A8%D8%A7-%DA%A9%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%BE%D8%A7%DB%8C%DB%8C-%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1%DB%8C%D9%85)) that Tehran’s priority is solving its dire economic problems. Doing so requires increasing foreign investment and getting Iran off the blacklist of the Financial Action Task Force, a Paris-based anti-money-laundering outfit. And these things will not happen unless Iran negotiates with Western powers over its nuclear program, its support for the Axis, and its arming of Russia in its war in Ukraine. In simpler words, if Iran wants to get to its domestic priorities, the West must become its foreign-policy priority.”
Read more: [https://theatln.tc/HyCMEOjT](https://theatln.tc/HyCMEOjT)
Iran is a country of contradictions. Most of the population would support a (pre Erdoğan) Turkey style democracy. They have the natural resources to be one of the most developed countries in the region and there are a lot Iranians living abroad that would love to return to the country and help develop it. I don’t think that they would just align with the West but I think that they would take a neutrality stance towards peaceful development and prosperity.
Iran, like every nation with an ego, wants to have its cake and eat it. Simple fact of the matter is they are actively involved with multiple ongoing wars against the West which means they have no incentive to normalise relations.