5 - Eurasian Iran: ‘Resistance’ or a Persian Empire?

Summary

Chapter 5 brings the argument of the book to a logical conclusion, and paves the way for the Epilogue where the personality and political ideas of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last monarch of Iran, and Ayatollah Khomeini, the revolutionary leader who deposed him, are juxtaposed in a final assessment of the meaning of Iran and its effects on the politics of the country. Chapter 5 shows how Iran is embedded in several regions as a 'Eurasian country' and that it is at the forefront of a new order in West Asia, as a part of a radical transformation of the global system. With detailed analysis of the conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, the Iranian role is critically examined, together with its regional perception either as an imperial force with hegemonic aspirations or a convenient ally of increasingly powerful movements scattered all around the world, in particular in West Asia, of course, but also in Latin America. This chapter, as well, charters avenues for peace and reconciliation around the concept of 'human security' that is truly post-national and devoid of sectarian tensions or psycho-nationalist fervour.