Abstract:

Nowadays the Obama administration and most of its allies see the interest to discuss with Tehran, in order to support stability in the Middle East. But still, Iran has often been accused to be a “rogue” or a “terrorist” state by the West. Such a strong and ideologically-driven accusation is of course at least partly linked to the rivalry between Tehran and the US, a typical opposition between a Great Power eager to dominate a strategic region and an important local state opposing such domination. The word “terrorism” is particularly useful in public debates in order to discredit any state or entity opposing a stronger one using something more than just soft power. For reasons mostly linked to geopolitics and some states’ interests, a few nations will be accused of being “terrorist” more than others. The problem of such accusations is, once a whole state is designated as “terrorist”, it makes any rational dialogue or understanding of its political and diplomatic choices all the more difficult.

This is precisely what this talk will try to achieve: a neutral, rational analysis of terrorism related to Iran. The goal will be to cast away prejudices and fantasies in order to focus on facts only. First, a review will be made of the accusations of terrorism against Iran and open sources will be used to make a difference between facts and fiction. Second, it will be reminded that Iran is also a victim of terrorism, especially of Sunni extremist jihadism, which explains why Iran is, in more ways than one, a de facto ally of the West in Afghanistan. Such analyses will help to better understand Iranian foreign policy today, at a time when bad analyses and lack of understanding can only lead to disastrous diplomatic choices between Tehran and the West.”