SA-Iran alliance – another Bric in the wall

The growing affable relationship between South Africa and the Islamic Republic of Iran is distressing in the latter’s ongoing determination to destroy Israel. This reared its head in the wake of last week’s SA-Iran Joint Commission of Co-operation (JCC) in Pretoria.

A high-level meeting between Dr Naledi Pandor, the minister of the department of international relations and cooperation (Dirco), and her Iranian counterpart, Dr Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, took place last Thursday, 10 August, as the two co-chaired the 15th session of their JCC.

South Africa and Iran, a country which seeks the total destruction of Israel, enjoy an historical relationship. Both countries interact regularly, notably through the JCC, which was established in 1995.

According to Dirco, this is the longest running and one of the most active structured bilateral mechanisms South Africa has with any country in the Middle East.

Iran, known for its gross human rights violations particularly against women and other minority groups, as well as its declared enmity towards Israel, has greased its ties with South Africa as Western sanctions continue to grip the oppressive theocracy.

Iran has asked South Africa to support its request for membership of Brics, the five-nation bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, as South Africa prepares to hold a Brics summit later this month.

Iran is one of a number of nations lobbying to join the bloc, and it’s understood that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Russia’s close military ally, plans to attend the Brics summit in South Africa next week, from 22 to 24 August. Cuba, Venezuela, and 20 other countries have also applied to join Brics.

During the foreign ministers’ meeting, they discussed strengthening ties to facilitate trade and economic co-operation and other issues including education, energy, environmental co-operation, security, and defence. They also tackled global areas of conflict, like Yemen and Israel, and future high-level visits, co-operation, and partnerships.

Ironically, they noted the increasing threat of terrorism and extremism globally, and called for the international community to combat this scourge. Both countries agreed to strengthen bilateral and multilateral consultations on human rights in international fora, in particular the United Nations.

They reaffirmed their commitment to human rights, and expressed concern at the double standards when dealing with human rights and combating terrorism.

They condemned Israel’s expansion of settlements in the West Bank, and called on the world to strengthen support for the Palestinians in establishing a sovereign, independent Palestinian state including Jerusalem as its capital, and called for the lifting of the siege in Gaza.

Strengthening ties between the two countries isn’t a new thing says Steven Gruzd, political analyst at the South African Institute of International Affairs.

“It has been incrementally building for years. Having Iran in Brics has the potential to make the grouping more radical, and South Africa would have an anti-Israel ally in the bloc.

“Given that Iran wants to wipe Israel off the map, its support for Hamas and Hezbollah and its closeness to acquiring nuclear weapons, we should be concerned,” he said.

Sara Gon, the head of strategic engagement at the Institute of Race Relations, said, “The African National Congress [ANC] government has always had good relations with Iran, but the possibility of Iran joining Brics has probably intensified co-operation between them.

“Specific issues relating to condemning Israel’s settlement expansion and support for a sovereign, independent Palestinian state and Jerusalem as its capital might, by anyone else, have reflected some sort of idea of a two-state solution – which South Africa allegedly supports. However, knowing Iran as we do and its hatred of Israel, I suggest that’s not what the Iranians have in mind,” she said.

“They just want South Africa to become a more devoted ally. As for the ‘siege’ of Gaza, Hamas could resolve the problem if it stopped bringing arms into Gaza including those given to it by Iran.”

Security experts have cautioned that Iran’s proxy, the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, operates in several African countries, including South Africa, posing a threat to these states’ national security interests.

The ANC has already cozied up to Palestinian terror organisation Hamas, another of Iran’s proxies, by hosting visiting senior Hamas figures.

Security consultant Jasmine Opperman, who specialises in extremism and political violence, said, “The Iranian Revolutionary Guard is active in the Middle East in Syria and in Nigeria in Africa. It’s also present in South Africa, not in executing attacks but spreading Iranian influence and Shia interpretations. All to oppose Saudi Arabia and the influence of the United States. There are intermittent reports of Iran providing financial support to Hamas and Hezbollah, which have free rein in South Africa. Is it making use of proxies in spreading influence in the Middle East and Africa? Yes.”

Rolene Marks, spokesperson for the South African Zionist Federation, said the South African government, which ostensibly supports democratic values and human rights, ought to be circumspect about cozying up to a regime whose words and actions, including its suppression of women’s rights, are antithetical to South Africa’s democratic values.

“In fact, the Iranian regime is guilty of violently suppressing protest action, executing members of the LGBTQI+ [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning] community, and is the world’s foremost sponsor of state terror. It repeatedly calls for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state, and Iran’s violation of human rights ranks among the worst in the world.

“South Africa’s cozying up to Iranian leaders is in direct contrast to our venerated Constitution, which protects the rights of all. These actions don’t benefit our country or people, and place South Africa at odds with much of the world, including the Middle East,” she said.

“The government is doing a disservice to South Africa and South Africans when it builds ties to hateful, violent, and repressive regimes instead of growing relations with countries with an interest in a stable, positive, democratic future. That the ANC government obsessively bashes democratic Israel but befriends Iran is an entirely unacceptable and inconsistent basis for foreign policy,” Marks said.

In a moving speech to the US Congress last month, Israeli President Isaac Herzog urged American legislators not to remain indifferent to the Iranian regime’s call to wipe Israel off the map. “The Iranian regime, together with its proxies throughout the Middle East, is working towards destroying the state of Israel, killing the Jews, and challenging the entire free world,” he said.

Herzog said Iran wasn’t striving to attain nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

“Iran is building nuclear capabilities that pose a threat to the stability of the Middle East and beyond. Every country or region controlled or infiltrated by Iran has experienced utter havoc.”

The 16th JCC will take place in Tehran.