Post-Nuclear Deal Iran: Back to the Fold of Imperialism?

Abstract

Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, sought to chart out an independent course for Iran in regional and global affairs: ‘neither East, nor West, the Islamic Republic.’ The independent course, as he defined it, consisted of two integral components – political and economic independence from the imperialist West, and the sovereign freedom of Iranians to define and control Iran’s fate solely on their own. Khomeini’s successors have often attempted to compromise with the West by undertaking economic reforms aimed at reintegrating Iran into the imperialistic capitalist world economy. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed in mid-July 2015, brings Iran new opportunities but it also greatly compromises the ideological, philosophical and economic foundations of Khomeini’s Islamic Republic. After four decades of anti-imperialist struggle, Iran has now largely come back to the fold of imperialism.