Istanbul (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Tunisia’s President Kais Said has strengthened relations between Tunisia and Iran are to an unprecedented level. Tunisia, in response to Iran’s announcement of visa waivers for 28 countries including Tunisia, has also lifted visa requirements for Iranian nationals.
Tunisia is one of the few majority Sunni Muslim countries to keep a cordial relationship with Iran throughout its history. In matters of foreign policy, Tunisia has famously held a neutral foreign policy of zero enemies throughout most of its history. However, the warmth of the relationship between Iran and Tunisia nowadays has raised some concerns in the West.
To the majority of the Western public, The Islamic Republic of Iran is just another Muslim country among other Arabic Middle Eastern countries. Yet, Iran is quite different. It is one of the few Muslim countries with a Shia majority in the region. In fact, Iran is symbolic of the Shiite sect of Islam and considers itself the centre of Islam rather than Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, contrary to many Muslim countries, Iranians do not speak Arabic; The majority language in Iran is Persian. These differences single out Iran from the other Sunni Muslim countries, making its foreign relations with Arab countries quite turbulent. However, that is not the case regarding its relationship with the country of Tunisia.
Before the 1978 Islamic revolution of Iran, Tunisia and Iran had a stable standing relationship as seen by President Bourguiba’s week-long state visit to Iran in 1965 where the Shah and thousands of people welcomed the President.
However, this relationship was broken off in 1987, however, after disturbances at Tunis University by some students who, according to President Bourguiba, were influenced by Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his vision of an Islamic Republic. The deterioration of relations between Tunisia and Iran in that period was bolstered by President Bourguiba’s mistrust of Tunisian Islamists allegedly influenced by Iran and its fundamentalist revolution.
However, soon after the rise of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Ben Ali to power in 1989, relations with Iran soon resumed. Ben Ali was also wary of political Islam, yet he opted for a more prudent tactic, as some observers have noted, drawing “a sharp difference between the use of Islam under Bourguiba and Ben Ali. Bourguiba instrumentalized Islam to construct a moral frame for his policies; Ben Ali put Islam among the pillars of Tunisian identity” (IramCenter).
After the Jasmine Revolution of 2011, Tunisia saw the resurgence of Ennahda as a major political party that controlled the country from 2011 to 2014 forming a coalition government with two other major parties, causing the coalition to be dubbed “the Troika.” During this period, Iran exhibited a new wave of interest in the country, bolstered by the return of moderate political Islam. In this period, “Iranian news agencies like the Iran Project, Iran Front Page, and IRNA have extensively covered Iran-Tunisia bilateral relations” (-IramCenter).
This interest resulted in increased relations between the countries such as the commemoration of an Iranian film week in Tunisia in 2012 and plans to increase economic ties in fields such as “oil and petroleum, automobile, financial services & banking, agriculture, phosphate and pharmaceutical and food industries” (-TheIranProject).
While the then Tunisian government backed this flourishing relationship, this new unbalanced interest from Iran worried some Tunisians. These concerns led to the creation of the Tunisian Association Against Shiism in 2012 to help defend the Tunisian Sunni identity from any foreign interference, especially Iranian.
Tunisian-Iranian relations reached unprecedented levels during the Troika’s rule. Because of an unprecedentedly harsh economic recession in the country, however, this Ennahda-led government was abruptly voted out.
The following period hinted at a return to pragmatism through the rise of Beji Caied El Sebsi, a figurehead from the old regime and a true Bourguibist dedicated to secular vision of Arab nationalism. Sebsi, who worked in the government of both Habib Bourguiba and Ben Ali, believed in secular pragmatism and a zero-enemy foreign policy. During Sebsi’s presidency, Tunisia “resumed diplomatic relations with Syria, carried out a rapprochement with Egypt and Saudi Arabia, expressed sympathy for the Palestinian cause, and maintained amicable relations with Qatar despite the [2017-2020] blockade”(IramCenter). Sebsi’s government tried to remain as neutral as possible without hindering its economic ties. For instance, when the Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia was established to fight against Yemen’s Houthis, Tunisia refused to join the coalition and called for an “Arab Solution” through negotiations and dialogue. This neutral stance kept Tunisia in most of its partners’ good graces, including Iran, which maintained good bilateral ties with Tunisia. Still, careful neutrality prevented Tunisia and Iran’s relations from expanding even further, since that would have endangered Tunisia’s relations with the other Arab nations especially, countries like Saudi Arabia.
Under President Saied, Tunisian politicians have had numerous meetings with their Iranian counterparts discussing ways of expanding ties between the two countries. The renewed relations gained ground after the late Iran President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi met with President Saied during the 7th meeting of the Assembly of Heads of Gas Exporting Countries in Algeria. The Iranian President conveyed his wishes for deeper economic ties with North African countries like Tunisia. When the President of Iran tragically passed away in a helicopter crash earlier this year, President Kais Saied visited Tehran, which was the first time a Tunisian president had gone to Iran since Bourguiba’s visit in 1965. President Saied met with the Iranian Head of State, Imam Khamenei, where he offered his condolences and where both expressed interest in nurturing the ties of both countries to a new level.
While most former Tunisian governments considered steps to deepen ties with Tehran, the relationship never went beyond a certain level due to Tunisia’s cautious foreign policy of zero enemies. President Saied, however, has taken the relationship to a new level.
This new foreign policy trajectory comes after Tunisia refused an $1.9 billion IMF loan because of the stringent conditions attached to it. The country is left with limited options to solve its economic issues. This situation is alarming to Western countries since it may signify a Tunisian interest in forging relations with anti-western countries besides Iran, including China, to find the funds necessary to survive. However, President Saied rejects foreign “diktats” and believes that Tunisia is a sovereign state with the liberty to solve its own issues as it pleases.
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