Iranian politicians have attacked the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy, criticizing the country’s close relations with Syria and Russia in particular.

Speaking to the parliament on Wednesday, June 27, member of the parliament Behrouz Bonyadi accused Russia of being an unreliable friend to Iran and said that Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin would both willingly sacrifice Iran to bolster their relations with the United States and Israel.

Bonyadi, a representative from the city of Kashmar in the province of Razavi Khorasan, accused President Assad of downplaying the importance of Iranian-led military forces in Syria. And he said the June 23 announcement that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, would increase output with the help of Russia, amounted to an act of betrayal against Iran. As OPEC’s third-largest producer, Iran urged OPEC not to bow to US President Trump’s call to boost oil supply. By imposing sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, Trump had contributed to a recent rise in prices, he said.

World powers including China and Russia had helped create the current currency crisis in Iran, Bonyadi added. “The outcome of this [lopsided] equation is an increase in poverty, misery and distrust among people. This means that the country’s priority must change from military to political and economic so our foreign policy will find itself in a win-win situation.”

Khamenei: "Our Preference is East Over West

In his speech, Bonyadi did not name names. But the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has repeatedly announced that he intends to strengthen relations with eastern countries including China and Russia. “In the area of foreign policy, we should prefer the East to the West, and neighbors to distant countries,” he told an public audience on February 18. “We should prefer the nations and countries that have common ground with us,” he said, adding that such preferences should be a key priority.

On May 30, Ali Akbar Velayati, Khamenei’s top foreign policy advisor, further promoted this policy — employing the anti-Western language so characteristic of Khamenei and his aides — during a meeting to discuss the nuclear agreement. “We, Russia and China have common national interests in various areas and we can work together,” he said. “A strategic view toward the East is the easiest way to rid ourselves from the shenanigans of the westerners. We must not fall for the atmospherics of those western-oriented individuals who love Paris more than Moscow.” He further described these individuals as “ignorant” and “westoxicated”.

Still, not everyone seems swayed by the campaign to build favor with China and Russia. Even before Bonyadi’s assertions, Gholam Ali Jafarzadeh Imanabadi, a representative from Rasht, pointed to the role Russia played in OPEC. “Contrary to assertions by some people,” he said on June 26, Russia was not trustworthy when it came to “sensitive issues” and its actions on the world stage.

Russian Puppets

More pointedly, on June 24, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh who has recently been elected as chairman of the Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said: “Unfortunately, in our country, suddenly the sacred extends to foreign policy — so much so that the policies of Syria, Russia and some other countries cannot be criticized.” He also said Iran had made “strategic mistakes” when dealing with Russia — particularly in military matters. “Iranians have repeatedly become puppets for Russia’s policies,” he said.

But Bonyadi went even further than challenging the eastern-oriented policies of the Supreme Leader. He also criticized the role of the military in Iran’s foreign policy. The most important military institution making regional policy decisions is, of course, the expeditionary Qods Force, part of the Revolutionary Guards.

On May 4, 2017 Ali Larijani, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, described the Revolutionary Guards as the most powerful and deciding force in the Middle East. And last year, on separate occasions, Major General Aziz Jafari, top commander of the Revolutionary Guards, and Ghasem Soleimani, commander of the Qods Force, emphasized the essential role the military plays in diplomacy. “Sometimes we take action through diplomacy — which is a good thing and the world approves of it — but certain problems cannot be solved through diplomacy alone, especially when there is a significant problem,” General Soleimani said in July 2017. In effect, Soleimani was warning President Rouhani that the Revolutionary Guards were not willing to abandon their role in region.

So although there are serious critics of Khamenei’s foreign policy priorities, and even the country’s military strategy, it is unlikely that these politicians’ challenging and controversial statements will really make a difference in the general direction of Iran’s foreign policy.

At the same time, these criticisms are growing and alarm over the military’s interference in Iran’s foreign policy is building, with increased calls for the foreign ministry to step in to resolve regional issues. This is a shift in Iranian politics, and a clear — if understated — challenge to the most influential figures driving the country’s future.