The Origins of Confrontational-Accommodationist Foreign Policy of President Ahmadinejad

This paper seeks to examine the following questions: 1) May we say that Iran’s foreign policy has been confrontational-assertive since president Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005?; and 2) If we accept that Ahmadinejad’s foreign policy has been confrontational–assertive, what factors have contributed to it? The author believes that Iran’s foreign policy has been confrontational-assertive and accommodationist-active simultaneously. Secondly, the origins of the simultaneous confrontationalassertive and accommodationist-active approaches in Iran’s foreign policy since Ahmadinejad’s taking power may be found in psychological (Ahmadinejad’s system of beliefs), social (social origin of Ahmadinejad’s Administration), political (competition among Iranian political factions), historical (the ideals of the Islamic Revolution) and international (the Western states’ behavior towards Iran, particularly during Khatami’s administration) factors.