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The Role of Water Exports in Iranian Foreign Policy towards the GCC

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Kamran Taremi
Kamran Taremi*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Tehran
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Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , June 2005 , pp. 311 - 328
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 2005

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References

1 For an overview of the water situation in the GCC, see Abdulrazzak, M. J., “Integrated Approach to Water Resource Development and Management in the GCC Countries,” in Water in the Arabian Peninsula: Problems and Policies, ed. Mahdi, Kamil A. (Reading, 2001), 101–106Google Scholar.

2 Adulrazzak, Water in the Arabian Peninsula, 106–110.

3 Hayat-i Naw, 7 August 2002, 5.

4 For statements to this effect, see excerpts from the speech by Mr. Bitaraf, the Minister of Energy, at the eighth session of The Euro-Arab Center for Studies entitled “The Security of Arab Waters” held in Cairo, Egypt in 2000. Payam-i Nira, no. 56 (March 2000): 22. Similar comments were made by Rasul Zargar, the former Deputy Minister of Energy for Water Affairs, to the Iranian press. Khurasan, 13 March 2001, 5.

5 Payam-i Niru, no. 101 (December 2003): 17.

6 For a discussion of Iranian–Saudi relations in this era, see Haass, Richard, “Saudi Arabia and Iran: The Twin Pillars in Revolutionary Times,” in The Security of the Persian Gulf, ed. Amirsadeghi, Hossein (New York, 1981)Google Scholar, chapter 8; and Badeeb, Saeed M., Saudi–Iranian Relations, 1932–1982 (London, 1993)Google Scholar.

7 For an excellent discussion of the Nixon Doctrine and Iran's role in it, see Acharya, Amitav, US Military Strategy in the Gulf: Origins and Evolution under the Carter and Reagan Administrations (London, 1989), 2Google Scholar.

8 On Soviet–Iraqi relations in this era, see Shemesh, Haim, Soviet–Iraqi Relations, 1968–1988 (Boulder, 1992), 1Google Scholar, 2, 3 and 4.

9 For a detailed examination of Ayatollah Khomeini's and his disciples' world view, see Hunter, Shireen, Iran and the World: Continuity in a Revolutionary Decade (Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1990), 36–40Google Scholar and Rajaee, Farhang, Islamic Values and World View: Khomeini on Man, the State and International Politics, American Values Projected Abroad, vol. 13 (New York, 1983), 73–82Google Scholar.

10 Khomeini, Ruhollah, Dar justuju-yi rah az kalam-i Imam: jahan-i Islam (Tehran, 1362/1983), 57, 62, 69, 72–74Google Scholar.

11 Hunter, Shireen, “Gulf Security: An Iranian Perspective,” in The Gulf and International Security, the 1980s and Beyond, ed. Ahrari, M. E. (New York, 1991), 36Google Scholar.

12 For Ayatollah Khomeini's views to that effect, see Khomeini, Dar Justuju-yi rah as kalam-i Imam: jahan-i Islam, 138, 170.

13 The World Bank, World Development Indicators, 2001 (Washington, DC, 2001), 12–14Google Scholar.

14 The World Bank, World Development Indicators, 2001, 44–46.

15 Ramazani, R. K., Revolutionary Iran: Challenge and Response in the Middle East, paperback ed. (Baltimore, 1988), 23.Google Scholar

16 Peterson, J. E., “The Arab Response to the Iranian Challenge in the Gulf,” in The Middle East in the 1980s: Problems and Prospects, ed. Stoddard, Philip H. (Washington, DC, 1983), 156–7Google Scholar.

17 For a discussion of wartime GCC aid to Iraq, see Nonneman, Gerd, Iraq, the Gulf States and the War: Changing Relationships, 1980–1986 and Beyond (London, 1988), 8Google Scholar.

18 This will be dealt with in more detail below.

19 Hunter, Iran and the World, 110.

20 For an account of Iranian and Iraqi attacks on shipping in the Gulf, see El-Shazly, Naha El-Sayed, The Gulf Tanker War: Iran and Iraq's Maritime Swordplay (London, 1998)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

21 For a discussion of Iran's response to GCC support for Iraq, see Chubin, Shahram and Tripp, Charles, Iran and Iraq at War (London, 1988), 9CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

22 Afrasiabi, K. L., After Khomeini: New Directions in Iran's Foreign Policy (Boulder, 1994), 58Google Scholar.

23 Cordesman, Anthony H., The Iran–Iraq War and Western Security, 1984–1987: Strategic Implications and Policy Options (London, 1992), 41–42, 45Google Scholar.

24 Cordesman, The Iran–Iraq War and Western Security, 39–40.

25 Hunter, Shireen, Iran After Khomeini, The Washington Papers no. 156 (New York, 1992), 2Google Scholar.

26 Afrasiabi, After Khomeini, 36.

27 Hunter, Iran and the World, 119.

28 Amuzegar, Iran's Economy under the Islamic Republic, 61.

29 Middle East Economic Survey, 32, 42, (21 October 1988): A2.

30 Hunter, Iran after Khomeini, 102.

31 On the U.S. policy of dual containment, see Indyk, Martin, “Watershed in the Middle East,” Foreign Affairs, 7, no. 1 (Spring 1992): 70–93Google Scholar; Lake, Anthony, “Confronting Backlash States,” Foreign Affairs, 72, no. 3 (March/April 1994): 45–55CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sick, Garry, “Rethinking Dual Containment,” Survival, 40, no. 1 (Spring 1998): 5–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Brzezinski, Zbigniew and Murphy, Richard, “Differentiated Containment,” Foreign Policy, (May/June 1997): 20–41Google Scholar; Khalilzad, Zalmay, “The United States and the Persian Gulf: Preventing Regional Hegemony,” Survival, 37, no. 2 (Summer 1995): 95–120CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Hajjar, Sami G., “Framing a Rogue: U.S.–Iran Relations in the Gulf,” Strategic Review (Fall 1997): 19–28Google Scholar.

32 Sick, “Rethinking Dual Containment,” 8.

33 This point was repeatedly raised in interviews with officials at the Ministry of Energy.

34 This issue was raised in the interviews I had with officials in the Energy Investment Company.

35 Aftab-i Yazd, 1 February 2001, 4.

36 Hayat-i Naw, 22 February 2001, 8.

37 The Karun River is Iran's largest. The river flows in the Iranian province of Khuzestan and empties into the Persian Gulf after it joins the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in the vicinity of the Iranian port city of Khorramshahr.

38 Khordagui, Hosni, “Prospects for Non-Conventional Water Resources in the Arabian Peninsula,” in Water in the Arabian Peninsula: Problems and Policies, ed. Mahdi, Kamil A. (Reading, 2001), 174Google Scholar.

39 Interview with an Iranian official at the Middle East Water Resources Development Co. who wished to remain anonymous.

40 Kiyhan, 16 June 2002, 6.

41 Abrar, 5 March 1993, 4.

42 Kiyhan, 23 January 1994, 3.

43 The last time the issue was raised was during President Khatami's visit to Qatar on May 19, 1999. See Payam-i Niru, 49 (May/June 1999): 11.

44 Tehran Times, 20 June 2002, 2.

45 The data for Tehran's annual water consumption are cited in Hamshahri, 5 April 2003, 5. It is important to note that Iran's average per capita water consumption is reported to be twice the global level. Tehran Times, 5 November 2002, 4.

46 Hadi Mirabolghasemi, “Ab, amniyat, imkanat wa ayandeh-yi ma: nigahi bi Masali-yi Sadirat-i ab Tawassut-i Iran,” Aftab-i Yazd, 17 April 2001, 8. He quotes the figures from Mr. Bitaraf, the current minister of energy; also see Hamshahi, 23 July 2001, 17–18.

47 Interview with an official in the Energy Investment Company in Tehran.

48 Iran, 21 November 2001, 13.

49 Abrar-i Ightisadi, 29 January 2003, 2.

50 Interview with an official at the Middle East Water Resources Co. who wished to remain anonymous.

51 News of Iran's negotiations with Saudi Arabia was revealed to me in interviews with the officials in the Energy Investment Company.

52 Interview with officials at the Ministry of Energy.

53 For reports of the unrest and its casualties, see Kiyhan, 7 July 2000, 14; Risalat, 10 July 2000, 1, 15; Intikhab, 11 July 2000, 3; and Kar wa Kargar, 14 July 2000, 9.

54 For examples of these denials, see Jawan, 21 April 2001, 10; and Tehran Times, 24 July 2000, 3.

55 For press reports indicating that a decision will be made this year, see Ashti, 28 April 2003, 3.

56 For Mr. Rashidian's views on that subject, see Siday-i Idalat, 29 April 2001, 4.

57 Interview with Dr. Meydari, one of the MPs representing the city of Abadan in the province of Khuzestan.