Thicker Than Sanctions: The Persistence and the Development of Iran’s “Looking East” Approach

Abstract

“Looking East” has recently become a rather trendy topic among Iranians from all walks of life at a critical time: when Iran has deeply engaged its major partners in the East while getting involved in a rather lengthy negotiations with the “5+1” party concerning the fate of the nuclear deal, which the Trump administration quit in May 2018. Although from the beginning Iran’s “Looking East” orientation was by and large about going around the US-led international sanctions and punitive measures levied against the Islamic Republic, the approach has survived to now become Tehran’s preferred policy toward the outside world. Not only is the “Looking East” policy pursued by Tehran in itself in itself an understudied topic of considerable significance, Iran sanctions are yet to be fully investigated by interested scholars despite their tremendous ramifications on almost every aspect of Iranian internal and external affairs, including the Islamic Republic’s “Looking East” proclivities, over the past several decades. Indeed, after playing a truly instrumental role in shaping the contours of Iran’s increasingly growing multifaceted relationship with its Eastern friends and partners, the US-spearheaded sanctions have turned “Looking East” into the main doctrine behind the dynamics of Iran-East interactions for the foreseeable future.