The Islamic Awakening and Transformation of the United States Policy towards Iran

U.S. policy towards under Obama administration has been driven by geopolitical considerations; therefore, bilateral relations between Tehran and Washington have been dependent upon geopolitical competitions. The Islamic Awakening in the Middle East and North Africa has left lasting imprints on the geopolitics of the region and on the nature and domain of Iran-U.S. competition. The most noticeable characteristic of this phenomenon was that ordinary people turned into the main actors on the political scene. This previously absent factor caused a change in the geopolitics of the region. In fact, the Islamic Awakening has shifted the balance of power in the internal politics of regional countries in favor of the Islamic Republic of Iran and to the detriment of U.S. allies. As a result, in the midst of regional revolutionary developments, the United States found Iran to be one of its most potent rivals and took measures in order to counter the Iranian influence. These counter-Iranian measures were set as to manage and control the Islamic Awakening. This article explores the impact of the Islamic Awakening on U.S. policy towards Iran. This paper argues that Washington perception of the region, following its failure to predict and manage the upheaval, led to the evolution of US strategy which resulted in intensification of aggressive policies directed towards Tehran. These policies were implemented in order to utilize newly recognized regional opportunities while depicting the Islamic Revolution as an inefficient model to follow for Arab states. This strategic approach was manifested in the form of crippling sanctions.