"Supreme Guide" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has decided to perform what he calls "heroic flexibility" in foreign policy in the hope of focusing on a slow but steady suppression of dissent at home. In a speech last week, he said he was applying the tactic of "taqiyeh" (dissimulation), a theological concept, to diplomacy.... He said that when a revolution hits a tough rock on its path, it need not break its head against it; the wisest course would be to try and go around it.
It is against that background that Tehran now hails its recent "normalization" with Saudi Arabia, followed by "dispersing the clouds" in relations with the United Arab Emirates, as "a major step towards Islamic solidarity."
This is to be followed by "normalization" with Egypt, partly thanks to mediation by Sultan Haitham bin Tarik of Oman.
More importantly, perhaps, Tehran has quietly "rescheduled" its annual "A World Without America" seminar and the annual "Holocaust as a Hoax" cartoon exhibition.
This was in contrast with previous sermons in which he had urged his diplomats to always raise the banner of revolution and emphasize Iran's role as the leader of a new power bloc seeking to establish a new world order in alliance with Russia and China.
The big enchilada, of course, is whether the "Supreme Guide" will prove flexible enough to accept a new version of the "nuclear deal" (JCPOA) reached with President Barack Obama, which President Donald Trump dumped, and his successor President Joe Biden is determined to bring out of the wastepaper basket. Biden seems determined to get a deal before next year's presidential election to claim success in bringing Iran into the fold where Trump had failed.
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Amir Taheri was the executive editor-in-chief of the daily Kayhan in Iran from 1972 to 1979. He has worked at or written for innumerable publications, published eleven books, and has been a columnist for Asharq Al-Awsat since 1987. He is the Chairman of Gatestone Europe.
This article originally appeared in Asharq Al-Awsat and is reprinted by kind permission of the author.
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