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Downgrading Iranian-British Relations: The Anatomy of a Folly

Behravesh, Maysam LU (2012) In e-International Relations (e-IR)
Abstract
Yet, as indicated, the most significant corollary of the diplomatic crisis in Iranian-British ties concerns the cataclysmic impact it can exert upon the likelihood of military confrontation with Iran. It is a gross miscalculation on the part of Iranian politicians and policy-makers to suppose that occupation of the UK embassy or reduction of relations with the country will “teach it a good lesson,” “awaken it to its mistakes,” or prompt it to “revise its hostile approach” to Iran. On the contrary, with Washington and Tel Aviv hell-bent on halting Tehran’s nuclear programme, Britain will undoubtedly press ahead more adamantly with its opposition to the Islamic Republic, now that it has much less motivation to restrain itself. One needs to... (More)
Yet, as indicated, the most significant corollary of the diplomatic crisis in Iranian-British ties concerns the cataclysmic impact it can exert upon the likelihood of military confrontation with Iran. It is a gross miscalculation on the part of Iranian politicians and policy-makers to suppose that occupation of the UK embassy or reduction of relations with the country will “teach it a good lesson,” “awaken it to its mistakes,” or prompt it to “revise its hostile approach” to Iran. On the contrary, with Washington and Tel Aviv hell-bent on halting Tehran’s nuclear programme, Britain will undoubtedly press ahead more adamantly with its opposition to the Islamic Republic, now that it has much less motivation to restrain itself. One needs to understand that in the absence of effective communication, adversaries often gravitate towards developing worst-case perceptions about each other’s intentions, which in the case of Iran means all sides involved are drawing, willy-nilly, closer to military conflict and all-out war. The whole game is a systematic folly for which the entire Iranian nation will pay the price and of which it is the ultimate victim. (Less)
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author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to specialist publication or newspaper
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Iran, Britain, relations, downgrading, 2011
categories
Popular Science
in
e-International Relations (e-IR)
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
The article has been published on the e-International Relations (e-IR) website (www.e-IR.info).
id
074a5cb1-d92a-41b5-8c1b-31937c26ba56 (old id 3051767)
alternative location
http://www.e-ir.info/2012/01/23/downgrading-iranian-british-relations-the-anatomy-of-a-folly/
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 14:08:25
date last changed
2020-06-11 08:37:28
@misc{074a5cb1-d92a-41b5-8c1b-31937c26ba56,
  abstract     = {{Yet, as indicated, the most significant corollary of the diplomatic crisis in Iranian-British ties concerns the cataclysmic impact it can exert upon the likelihood of military confrontation with Iran. It is a gross miscalculation on the part of Iranian politicians and policy-makers to suppose that occupation of the UK embassy or reduction of relations with the country will “teach it a good lesson,” “awaken it to its mistakes,” or prompt it to “revise its hostile approach” to Iran. On the contrary, with Washington and Tel Aviv hell-bent on halting Tehran’s nuclear programme, Britain will undoubtedly press ahead more adamantly with its opposition to the Islamic Republic, now that it has much less motivation to restrain itself. One needs to understand that in the absence of effective communication, adversaries often gravitate towards developing worst-case perceptions about each other’s intentions, which in the case of Iran means all sides involved are drawing, willy-nilly, closer to military conflict and all-out war. The whole game is a systematic folly for which the entire Iranian nation will pay the price and of which it is the ultimate victim.}},
  author       = {{Behravesh, Maysam}},
  keywords     = {{Iran; Britain; relations; downgrading; 2011}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  series       = {{e-International Relations (e-IR)}},
  title        = {{Downgrading Iranian-British Relations: The Anatomy of a Folly}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/6289887/3051768.pdf}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}