Islamic Consultative Assembly and the Issue of Iraq's Invasion of Kuwait (August 2, 1990-February 28, 1991)

By virtue of the Iranian Constitution, Islamic Consultative Assembly enjoys some authorities in the foreign policy of the country. As such, along with institutions including the Leadership and the Supreme Council of National Security and the government, it can be influential in foreign policy. One of the most important political events which made the country and particularly the Islamic Consultative Assembly involved in the events after the end of the war between Iran and Iraq is Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990. Considering the importance of this issue, this paper is an attempt to deal with the role and approach of the Islamic Consultative Assembly in this regard. Hence, the problem addressed is the effect of the Iranian parliamant on Iran's way of deciding on the issue of war. It is an attempt to investigate the parliamentary positions taking a descriptive- analytical approach. The results show that the existence of institutions, such as the Supreme Council of National Security and the government with special authorities in foreign policy, the specialized nature of political issues, the scarcity of experienced forces and the slowness of the decision-making process in the parliament due to structural features as well as the separation between the parliament and the government in investigating the issue led to a lack of serious influence of the parliament.