Al Jazeera Columnist: Iran May Strike a Deal with the U.S. to Preserve the System
The Islamic Republic of Iran may agree to a deal with the United States—and, indirectly, with Israel—if the country’s leadership deems it necessary to preserve the political system. This assessment was expressed by a columnist for Al Jazeera English.
According to the author, Tehran’s anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric is not an insurmountable obstacle to negotiations. He identifies “hefz-e nezam”—preservation of the system—as a key principle of the Iranian government. As noted in the column, this approach is institutionally enshrined in Article 112 of the Iranian Constitution, which provides for the establishment of a Council to determine the expediency of the system for resolving disputes between the parliament and the Guardian Council.
As examples of Tehran’s pragmatic approach, the author cites the agreement by the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ruhollah Khomeini, to a ceasefire with Iraq in July 1988. During the war with Iraq, Tehran also received American weapons through Israeli channels and maintained secret contacts with Washington regarding the “Iran-Contra” affair, the article states. After the September 11, 2001, attacks, Iranian and American diplomats cooperated at the Bonn Conference on forming a post-Taliban government in Afghanistan.
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The column also notes that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated earlier this week that there were no direct negotiations with Washington. At the same time, the author believes that in the face of an existential threat, Tehran is capable of making concessions—not as a renunciation of its ideology, but as a tactical decision to preserve the system. According to the author, the concept of “heroic flexibility,” which Ali Khamenei articulated in 2013, could be used to justify such an approach.
The author cautions that a possible easing of sanctions and a reduction in the risk of war would not necessarily lead to political liberalization within Iran. In his assessment, an agreement with the U.S. could strengthen the resilience of the current system without bringing the country any closer to democratic change.
