Beyond Khomeini

Leroy A. Binns Ph.D.

The death of Islam’s most revered iman Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini has sent shivers throughout international circles as academics and government policy makers try to reshape the Iranian puzzle.

As the country’s 83 member assembly seeks a replacement Ali Khamenei, the Chairman of the Supreme Defense Council has been named temporary caretaker. However Western sources have predicted a power shuffle that will eventually lead to the parliamentary speaker Hashemi Rafsanjani’s rise to the helm.

Shortly following the news of the deceased President George Bush expressed hope for amicable relations with Iran while Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the Israeli government openly voiced a similar desire. In addition US political analysts are partly optimistic that the Republic’s ruined economy and the current events such as the death of Khomeini and the possibility of a pragmatic successor are factors that could alter Iran’s international image and have therefore urged the American administration to seize this opportunity.

Most recently change seemed unlikely. The talk of the town was one of hostility towards Iran as the country’s spiritual leader demeaned “the great Satan” through the hostage crisis and the Iran/Contra affair. Nevertheless very little has been mentioned of the historical causations that promoted such actions.

Ever since the Oriental Renaissance Western imperialism has dominated Persian politics. In the 1930s the Shah dynasty commenced and with it came corruption. With access to vast sums of money from the oil industry the government ruled with a heavy hand. Senior Shiite opposition figures were jailed or exiled and the peasantry suppressed. Meanwhile the elites lived lavishly at the country’s expense.

Despite anti-monarchic sentiments that oversaw the Islamic revolution and the rise to power of the reclusive Khomeini in 1979 the Reagan camp sought to undermine the religious establishment by supporting Baghdad in her proxy confrontation with Tehran and by appealing to moderates such as Iran’s former president Abolhassan Bani-Sadr and the country’s prospective spokesman Hashemi Rafsanjani through intermediary parties namely Britain’s clergyman Terry Waite and Saudi Arabia’s millionaire Adnan Khashoggi. American propaganda has also instilled hatred against the state of Iran and fermented the 1988 downing of the Iranian airbus and other illegal intelligence operatives in violation of international law.

May be in light of these atrocities the White House should take the initiative to normalize relations with her former ally. An official apology and a partial return of frozen assets to the government in question may in part compensate for her hideous crimes. This could result in the release of Shiite held American hostages in Lebanon and ultimately the commencement of US/Iranian diplomatic relations.

The reconciliation process as acknowledged by one of our country’s distinguished critic Edward Said will be a long and painful one. In fact as he puts it, “over time there maybe a more favorable relationship with Tehran.” Nevertheless the Ayatollah’s legacy may continue to haunt the United States unless appropriate measures are introduced to incite peace.