Back on topic with a neat flashback: did you know that Islamic Iran, true to its lofty foreign policy orientation governed by immutable principles, was one of the main supporters of the South African people's struggle against apartheid? In the same manner as the Islamic Republic has systematically rejected the zionist occupation regime in Palestine, it also opposed apartheid rule in South Africa.
Iran severed all ties with the apartheid regime after the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution led by Imam Khomeini. It interrupted the profitable, very extensive business relationship with Pretoria established by the toppled regime of the shah. In particular, Iran forwent oil exports to South Africa ie it renounced so-called national interest in order to conform to Islamic ethics of justice.
Movements backed by Iran included the ANC (African National Congress), the Communist Party of South Africa and the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC). Moreover, Islamic Iran's role was one of the main factors behind the increased involvement of the Muslim Umma and of South African (Sunni) Muslims in the struggle against apartheid.
Let us revisit this remarkable feat achieved by revolutionary Iran through a few documents.
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Mandela Arrives In Tehran, Lays Wreath At Khomeini Shrine
July 21, 1992
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) _ Nelson Mandela placed a wreath at Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s shrine on Tuesday in acknowledgment of Iran’s steadfast stand against apartheid, Tehran radio reported.
Iran, which often refers to itself as the defender of the world’s oppressed people, has been among the most outspoken Middle Eastern countries in condemning apartheid. It has vowed not to establish ties with South Africa until apartheid has been completely dismantled.
″We are here to thank the Iranian government and nation for their support in the black people’s struggle against apartheid,″ the radio quoted Mandela as saying after arriving in Tehran Tuesday. The report was monitored in Nicosia.
The Islamic Republic News Agency, also monitored in Cyprus, said that during his visit Mandela will confer with President Hashemi Rafsanjani, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati and Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Larijani.
https://apnews.com/ad81cee784fd0130a2aaafa8aace9997
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South Africa and Iran in the Apartheid Era
H.E. Chehabi
Pages 687-709 | Published online: 30 Jun 2016
Abstract
This article analyses the multifaceted relations between apartheid-era South Africa and Iran. In 1942, the exile of Iran’s ex-Shah in Johannesburg put South Africa on the map of Iran’s rulers. In the 1970s, close economic and military ties were established between the two states, based on economic complementarities and shared concern with the threat of communism and Soviet penetration into the Indian Ocean. By 1978, Iran provided over 90 per cent of South Africa’s oil. These ties did not prevent the Iranians from denouncing apartheid or bending its rules when in South Africa. The Islamic revolution of 1979 caused a break in formal relations. It affected South Africa in two ways: oil imports were disrupted, and it contributed to the growing militancy of South African Muslims in the anti-apartheid struggle. Iran then made financial contributions to the ANC, resulting in a friendly resumption of ties after the end of apartheid. The article uses extensive interviews with South African and Iranian diplomats who served in both countries.
H.E. Chehabi, "South Africa and Iran in the Apartheid Era", Journal of Southern African Studies, Volume 42, 2016 - Issue 4
https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2016.1201330
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Apr 2016
Zuma: Iran occupies a special place in our struggle against apartheid
Tehran - President Jacob Zuma praised Iran's 1979 revolution Sunday at the start of a three-day state visit which he said could "dramatically expand trade" with the Islamic republic.
The overthrow of a US-backed Shah was a source of encouragement as black South Africans fought against apartheid, Zuma said at a press conference with President Hassan Rouhani.
With international sanctions against Iran now lifted under its nuclear deal with world powers business activity is likely to increase.
"Iran occupies a special place in our struggle against apartheid," Zuma said, noting how Tehran cut ties with South Africa when it was under white rule, only resuming relations in 1994 after Nelson Mandela was elected as its first black president.
Mandela, who served one term before voluntarily standing down in 1999, visited Tehran before his election and soon after leaving office.
"South Africans were inspired by the 1979 revolution, which showed that emancipation is possible, whatever the odds," said Zuma, the first serving South African president to visit since.
Having signed eight cooperation agreements ranging from energy development to business insurance, Zuma said the nuclear deal was an opportunity to deepen commercial links.
"The challenge is to dramatically expand trade volumes," he added.
Rouhani, whose government in January implemented last summer's nuclear deal with Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany, paid tribute to Mandela, who died aged 95 in 2013.
"Let us cherish the memory of the late Nelson Mandela," after whom a street is named in Tehran, Rouhani said. "He is so very much revered by both the South African and the Iranian people."
( ... )
https://www.news24.com/News24/zuma-...ce-in-our-struggle-against-apartheid-20160424
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Nelson Mandela, Iran, and the critique of American hegemony
TEHRAN (FNA)- As the world commemorates Nelson Mandela, it is unfortunate that so much of the public discussion is dominated by the pious bloviating of politicians whose own careers seem not just unspeakably trivial compared to Mandela’s, but run directly against so much of what Mandela worked so hard to accomplish in his life. We think it is better to remember Mandela’s own words and deeds. In particular, we want to recall Mandela’s ties to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and his clear criticism of what he saw as America’s drive to dominate the Middle East and the Muslim world.
As Cyrus Safdari points out, everyone should remember that “Islamic Iran was strongly supporting the freedom movement (in South Africa), the US sided with the S. African apartheid regime and Reagan in particular was opposed to the sanctions on that government. Israel too was a close cooperator with the racist regime there, and may have even jointly developed a nuclear weapon with South Africa. Israel was the most significant arms supplier to that regime throughout the 1980s and served as a lifeline for the apartheid government during a period when Pretoria faced growing international condemnation and heightened domestic unrest.”
So it is hardly surprising that in 1992—two years after his release from prison and two years before his election to South Africa’s presidency, during one of the most intense and difficult phases in the negotiations and political struggle to end apartheid in his own country—Mandela visited the Islamic Republic of Iran. Upon his arrival in Tehran, Mandela said, “We are here to thank the Iranian government and nation for their support in the black people’s struggle against apartheid.” And watch the short video embedded above, see here , in which Mandela meets Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, addressing Khamenei as “my leader.” Mandela also laid a wreath at Imam Khomeini’s tomb.
Mandela visited Iran again as President of South Africa. Throughout his presidency, he was publicly dismissive of efforts—including those by American presidents—to persuade him to turn away from the Islamic Republic. As he said of the United States in 1997, “How can they have the arrogance to dictate to us who our friends should be?” And after he left office in 1999, he was utterly clear in his critique of the increasingly hegemonic orientation of America’s post-9/11 policy in the Middle East.
In this spirit, Mandela spoke to Newsweek in 2002 about the George W. Bush administration’s accelerating drive to invade Iraq:“We must understand the seriousness of this situation. The United States has made serious mistakes in the conduct of its foreign affairs, which have had unfortunate repercussions long after the decisions were taken.
Unqualified support of the Shah of Iran led directly to the Islamic revolution of 1979. Then the United States chose to arm and finance the (Islamic) mujahedin in Afghanistan instead of supporting and encouraging the moderate wing of the government of Afghanistan. That is what led to the Taliban in Afghanistan. But the most catastrophic action of the United States was to sabotage the decision that was painstakingly stitched together by the United Nations regarding the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan.
If you look at those matters, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United States of America is a threat to world peace. Because what (America) is saying is that if you are afraid of a veto in the Security Council, you can go outside and take action and violate the sovereignty of other countries. That is the message they are sending to the world.
That must be condemned in the strongest terms…There is no doubt that the United States now feels that they are the only superpower in the world and they can do what they like.”
Regarding the Bush administration’s fraudulent “case” about Saddam Hossein’s non-existent weapons of mass destruction, Mandela said that there was “no evidence whatsoever of (development of weapons of) mass destruction. Neither Bush nor (British Prime Minister) Tony Blair has provided any evidence that such weapons exist. But what we know is that Israel has weapons of mass destruction. Nobody talks about that. Why should there be one standard for one country, especially because it is black, and another one for another country, Israel, that is white.”
We know from our own experience in the George W. Bush administration that the Bush White House was concerned about Mandela’s criticisms—for he was one of the few international voices of unquestioned moral stature that the United States couldn’t manage to silence during the run-up to America’s illegal invasion of Iraq. Such concern undoubtedly prompted our boss at the time, then-national security adviser Condoleeza Rice, to take a phone call from Mandela in which he offered basic political and moral correction on other aspects of American Middle East policy. Rice could not have been more pleasant during her conversation with Mandela—but then, of course, she and her colleagues went ahead and did exactly as they had planned.
In the end, the Bush White House needn’t really have been concerned about Mandela’s outspoken criticisms of US policy. Too few people in post-9/11 America were willing to be galvanized into action to demand a different course—not even by an international icon whose own dedication to doing the right thing as he saw it was unsurpassed. But Mandela’s words were absolutely on the mark.
It’s nice that, in the wake of Mandela’s death, President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron have publicly praised his life. But we wish that they would reflect seriously on Mandela’s critique of Western policy—for it might compel them to reorient that policy, especially toward the Islamic Republic of Iran, in a fundamentally different direction.
TEHRAN (FNA)- As the world commemorates Nelson Mandela, it is unfortunate that so much of the public ...
theiranproject.com
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Iran-South Africa Relations: Past Trends, Future Prospects
Ahmad Bakhshi
Ahmad Bakhshi, "Iran-South Africa Relations: Past Trends, Future Prospects", Iranian Review of Foreign Affairs, Vol. 5, No. 2, Summer 2014, pp. 83-108
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This last paper is highly informative, as it provides a great overview of Iran-South Africa relations before and after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
If interested, make sure to read section II of the paper, from pages 91 to 100.
Selected points of interest taken from the paper (my comments and some corrections of typographical errors between square brackets):
* In 1977-1978, Iran under the Pahlavi monarchy had become the second largest trade partner of apartheid South Africa after Isra"el".
* "Cutting ties with South Africa was amongst the plans of revolutionary Iranians even before the revolution [just like opposition to zionist occupation]. For instance, Imam Khomeini declared in [Neauphle le Château], regarding the [sale of] oil to South Africa and Israel, that we will not sell oil to the racists and enemies to humanity (Collection of works: 1993, 140 and 340). He further stated that “we cannot establish relations with South Africa unless it changes its behaviour” (Collection of works: 378). ( ... ) After the revolution, according to the article 10 of the executive bylaw of the Export and Import Rules “all forms of trade interactions, direct and indirect, with South Africa and the occupier regime of Qods were banned”."
* "Along with supporting the anti-apartheid campaigns of the people of South Africa, the Islamic Republic of Iran closed South Africa’s political representation in Iran and instead allowed the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) open an office in Tehran [just as the Isra"el"i diplomatic representation was replaced by a Palestinian one in 1979]. Selling oil to South Africa was ceased and Iranian political representations in the frontier countries were established. The zenith of Iran’s support to the frontier countries was participation of Iran’s president of the time, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the non-aligned movement meeting in Zimbabwe and his insistence on the issues of South Africa."
* "Iran is among the first countries that started its relations with post-apartheid South Africa."
* "The United States has been critical towards expansion of South Africa’s relations with Iran; but this has not driven South Africa to reverse relations with Iran. The South African leaders have reacted to the U.S. requests for stopping cooperation with Iran by expressing their desire to choose their friends based on their own national interests (Broderik, 2001: 88 & 152). Some experts believe that such independent South African position vis a vis U.S. pressures is a response to the support the Africa National Congress has received from Iran in the course of its battles with the apartheid regime (Spence, 1998; 167). Iran supported the National Congress Party and the Communist Party of South Africa during apartheid and therefore when Mandela took office he declared that South Africa will not apply restrictions to its relations with friends who were supportive of freedom seeking efforts in this country in the dark days of history."
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