Document Type : مقالات علمی -پژوهشی

Authors

1 , Allameh Tabataba'i University

2 Allameh Tabataba'i University

Abstract

 
Extended Abstract

Introduction

In principle, the nature of foreign policy of the United States, especially among Republicans, is based on issues such as strong support for Israel, emphasis on fighting with enemies, unwillingness to compromise with political and military rivals, and the maximum interest of the United States in the shadow of intimidation and threats. This has posed a serious challenge in the West Asian region, especially with the growing strength of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the post-ISIS era and the formation of a powerful Shiite coalition. In this article, the authors attempt to provide an answer to this question: What was the cause of the assassination of Major General Ghassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps by Trump? And then what are the possible implications for the future of the region's security? The paper's hypothesis, based on Haug Miall's cyclic model theory, implies that the historical backdrop of the crisis goes back to the time of concluding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in addition to the historical hostilities after the Islamic Revolution. The stage of this crisis is related to the growing formation of the Shiite resistance front during the rise of ISIS and Post- ISIS and the imposition of heavy US economic sanctions on the IRGC in the region. In the confrontation phase, the direct and indirect military challenges and threats of the two countries against each other such as placing the Revolutionary Guards on the list of international terrorist groups can be mentioned. And finally, in the mediation phase, we can mention Japan's mediation activities.
The paper's findings also indicate that the failure of Trump's policies at all stages, his impeachment of Democrats within the US political system, and ultimately the need for a major breakthrough to succeed in the upcoming election make him eventually to assassinat Major General Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
 

Review of Literature

The "Conflict Cycle Model" was proposed by Miall Haug, in which several steps are considered for a crisis. This step is as follows:

Crisis potential stage;
Crisis Development Stage;
Mediation and mediation of international and regional organizations and powers;
Stage of collision and confrontation.
Method

The research method of this article is historical sociology.

Findings and Discussion

In the crisis potential stage: Trump believes that the jcpoa agreement has brought down the hegemony of the United States and has increased the power of Iran and the Revolutionary Guards. So he canceled the deal at this point;
In Crisis Development Stage: Trump stressed the expansion of the Shiite sphere of influence in the Middle East and the threat of Shiites to Israel (which is a strategic ally of the United States in the Middle East) to create a crisis with the Revolutionary Guards;
In Mediation and mediation of international and regional organizations and powers: In this Stage, Trump sent Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Tehran to mediate between him and Islamic Republic officials So that he can create the conditions for a new agreement.
In Stage of collision and confrontation: At this stage, Trump first placed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps under terrorist groups. Then, He imposed economic sanctions on this group and eventually, he threatened war and direct confrontation (sending warships to the Persian Gulf). Trump's failure to persuade the Islamic Republic to sign a new treaty and the need for a major breakthrough to succeed in the upcoming election, He eventually assassinated Major General Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Conclusion

The Islamic Republic of Iran has repeatedly challenged US hegemony in the Middle East and has sought to limit US influence. In fact, Iran has always defined the US presence in the region as a security challenge, not as a precursor to a regional security system. After the rise of ISIS, the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, supported its strategic allies, Syria and Iraq. The support that continued to lay the groundwork for a deep Shiite coalition led to the relative decline of ISIS. This should be considered a great achievement for Iran, along with the formation of the Popular Mobilization Forces military in Iraq and Hezbollah in Syria, because the nature of these military groups is the same as the opposition to US policies. For this reason, the United States, after the fall of ISIS, considered Iraq and Syria as a kind of loser, and its main analysis was based on the extensive influence of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in these countries and some other Middle Eastern countries such as Yemen and Afghanistan. As a result, Trump, while placing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps under international terrorist groups, eventually assassinated Major General Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes so that he would not see his interests lost in these countries any more. Trump's terrorist act could pose a major security, economic and military challenge to the United States and its allies in the Middle East. An action that will face strong Shiites reactions in the not-too-distant future.
 

Keywords

1. Alcaro, R. (2018). Trump’s Iran Policy and Europe’s Choice on the Nuclear Deal, ‏Rome: Istituto Affari Internazionali Publication (AIA).
2. Alishahi, A. & Forouzan, Y. (2019). An Explanation of Trump’s Offensive Strategy towards the Islamic Republic of Iran The Security and Military Roots and Consequences, Scientific Journal of Defense Policy 27 (106), 85-112. [In Persian]
3. Alishahi, A. (2019). The Defensive Paradigm of the Popular Mobilization Forcesin Iraq and the Degeneration of Divergent Politics, Journal of Advertising and Public Relations 2(2): 1-8.
4. -Alishahi, A.; HosseinPour, Z., & Soleimani Souchelmaei, H. (2019). The Impact of Different Ethnicities in the Realization of Political Federalism in Iraq, from Post Saddam to 2018, Journal of Cultural and Social Anthropology 1(3): 23-36.
5. Al-Khoei, H.; Geranmayeh, E., & Toaldo, M. (2017). After ISIS: How to win the Peace in Iraq and Libya, European Concil on Foreignrelations 3 (6): 1-18.
6. Ashford, E. (2018). Unbalanced: Rethinking America’s Commitment to the Middle East, Strategic Studies Quarterly 12(1) 127-148.
7. Aust, A. (2010). Handbook of International Law, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
8. Bade, R. & DeBonis, M. (2019, September 24). Pelosi announces impeachment inquiry, says Trump's courting of foreign political help is a 'betrayal of national security, The Washington Post,
9. Barsamian, D. (2001). The United States is a Leading Terrorist State, Monthly Review 53 (6): 61-74.
10. Benaim, D., & Wahid Hanna, M. (2019). The Enduring American Presence in the Middle East The U.S. Military Footprint Has Hardly Changed Under Trump, Journal of Foreign Affairs 12 (6): 14- 26.
11. Bigdeli, M., & Khabiri, K. (2018). The Impact of the Foreign Policy of Trump Government on the Collective Security Mechanism, Studies of Internationa Relations 10 (40): 9-38. [In Persian]
12. Blake, A. (2019, October 9). The White House's scathing and legally dubious impeachment letter, annotated, The Washington Post.
13. Calder, K. (2015). The United States, Japan, and The Gulf Region, Washington D.C: Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies.
14. David, C., & Grondin, D. (2016). Hegemony or Empire? The Redefinition of US Power Under George W. Bush, New York: Routledge.
15. Farzinra, R.; Forouzan, Y & Alishahi, A. (2020). Applying Regional Deterrence Paradigm in the policies of the Islamic Republic of in response to US military threats in three levels, Journal of National Security 10 (35), 231-264. [In Persian]
16. Farzinra, R; Forouzan, Y & Alishahi, A. (2019). A Review of the Problem of the Independence of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and its Impact on the National Security of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Journal Sterategic Studies of Public Policy 9 (31), 195-210. [In Persian]
17. Forouzan, Y & Alishahi, A. (2019). Political Constructivism in the Relationship between Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran from Post-Islamic Awakening to Post- JCPOA, Scientific Journal of Security Horizons 12 (43), 139-165. [In Persian]
18. Hazbun, W. (2018). Regional Powers and the Production of Insecurityin the Middle East, Journal of MENARA Working Papers 3 (11): 18- 28.
19. Hurst, D. (2019, June14). Abe’s effort at playing the middle man between Washington and Tehran yielded no immediate results, The Diplomat Press.
20. Juneau, T. (2017). Iranian Foreign Policy since 2001: Alone in the World, New York: Garland Science.
21. Kitchen, Ni. (2018). After the Arab Spring, Power Shift in the Middle East? The Contradic-tions of Hegemony, London: School of Economics IDEAS Reports.
22. MahdiZadeh, A & MirHosseini, F. (2017). The Roots of Iranophobia in Arab`s Public Opinion, Journal of Foreign Policy 31 (2), 151-182. [In Persian]
23. Miall, H. (1990). Contemporary Conflict Resolution, Cambridge: Polity.
24. Miall, H. (2004). Conflict Transformation: A Multi-Dimensional Task, Berlin: VS Verlag fur Sozialwissenschaften.
25. Miall, H. (2007). Emergent Conflict and Peaceful Change, London: Macmillan.
26. O’Driscoll, D & Van Zoonen, D. (2017). The Hashd al-Shaabi and Iraq Subnationalism and the State, NewYork: Middle East Research Institute.
27. Parello-Plesner, J. (2018). Post-ISIS Challenges for Stabilization: Iraq, Syria and the U.S. Approach, Washington D.C.: Hudson Institute Publications.
28. Pollack, K. (2017). Facing the Iranian Challenge in the Middle East: The Role of Iranian Backed Militias, Washington D.C.: American Enterprise Institute.
29. RasouliSaniAbadi, E. (2016). The Study of Hegemons Policy Towards of States in the Middle East on the Basis of the Sociological Approaches of International Relations In the Period of Barak Obama, Quarterly Studies the State 2 (7), 41-71. [In Persian]
30. Scazzieri, L. (2017). Trump, Europe and the Middle East peace process: A path out of the quicksand, London: Center for European Reform Publications.
31. ShahAli, A & Movahhedian, E. (2012). State Terrorism in Cyberspace and the Ways to Confront with it, Journal of mass communication media 23 (2), 25-46. [In Persian]
32. Simbar, R & GhorbaniSheikhNeshin, A. (2008). International Relations and Peace diplomacy in the evolving world system, Tehran: SAMT Publications. [In Persian]
33. Simbar, R. (2010). United States Foreign Policy and the New Sanctions against I.R. Iran, Political Knowledge 6 (2), 107-138. [In Persian]
34. SoleimanZadeh, S; Omidi, A & Yazdani, E. (2018). A Constructivist Analysis of Iranophobia in the U.S. Foreign Policy in Post-JCPOA Era, Sterategic Research of Politics 6 (24), 95-124. [In Persian]
35. Stokes, D. (2018). Trump, American hegemony andthe future of the liberal international order, International Journal of Affairs 94 (1): 133–150.
36. Suzuki, N. (2019, June 16). After Tehran visit, hurdles remain high for Abe in bid to mediate between U.S. and Iran, The JapanTimes News.
37. Thompson, J. (2018). Trump’s Middle East Policy, Zurich: CSS Analyses in Security Policy.
38. Turak, N. (2019, June12). Japan’s Abe heads to Iran with oil and the US on the agenda, cnbc press.
39. Wise, H. (2007). Inside the Danger Zone: The U.S. Military in the Persian Gulf 1987–88, Annapolis: MD: Naval Institute Press.
40. Zarate, J. (2013). Treasury’s War: The Unleashing of a New Era of Financial Warfare, New York: Public Affairs.
41. Zenko, M. (2018). US and Americas Programme: US Military Policy in the Middle EastAn Appraisal, NewYork: NewYork University Press.
CAPTCHA Image