US-Iranian Rapprochement -Motives and Implications

Since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, several attempts to improve Iranian-American relations have been made, but failed. However, the present efforts such relations, since Hassan Rouhani assumed office on August 3, 2013, appear to be far more serious. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is threefold. First, it explains the elements of rapprochement in the US-Iranian relations since Rouhani came to power in 2013. Second, it clarifies the internal, regional and international developments that have influenced and shaped the relations between the two countries. Third, it aims at discussing the implications of a U.S.-Iran rapprochement for the Middle East. The study reveals that US-Iran relations are experiencing fundamental and dramatic changes started by rounds of negotiations about the Iran's nuclear programme. As it is known in politics, there are no permanent friends or foes, only permanent interests. Accordingly, Iranian and US foreign policy has been and will continue to be based on permanent interests rather than permanent friends or foes. As a result, the study shows that there are three major factors that have shaped the course of relations between Iran and USA. The first factor is the new approach of the Iranian and US leaders which called to dialogue and openness to settle outstanding issues, ending hostilities and restoring relations on an equitable basis for mutual benefits. The second issue is geopolitics that represented by the Iraq crisis. The one common interest of the regimes in US and Iran is their need for clearing up the shambles in Iraq and to quell the al Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and Syria sweeping northern Iraq. The last major factor related to the convergence of the American and Iranian project in managing the area and their ambitions in the Arab region, particularly after the Arab spring results. US and Iran found that Arab spring in different countries in the Middle East (such as Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Syria) has led to rise (anti Iranian and anti-American Islamists). Moreover, Arab spring has shown the limits of American and Iranian power in the Middle East, which pushed both sides to adopt a new policy toward each other to get as much of the pie as possible. Based on this study, it can be concluded that, although US and Iran are making approaches towards each other by slow steps, but their rapprochement might change the political map in the Middle East as a whole