Iranian Interference and Its Impact on Algeria-IranRelations

The Algerian-Iranian relations went through periods of ups and downs that reached the point of complete estrangement during the nineties of the last century.As the diplomatic estrangement occurred when Iran chose the option of interfering in the internal affairs of Algeria under the pretext of supporting the Algerian Islamic movement represented by the Islamic Salvation Front, after its victory in the annulled legislative elections on the 26th,of December 1991. Iran considered itself an ideal Islamic model of governance after the victory of the Iranian revolution in 1979, and its adoption of the policy of “exporting the revolution”. Allowing itself to interfere in the internal affairs of Muslim countries under the title of “supporting Islamic movements.”

From Strong Diplomatic Relations to Estrangement

1- The Algerian-Iranian relations were characterized by strength during the reign of Muhammad Reza Shah and President Houari Boumediene, which enabled Algeria to play the role of mediator in the border dispute between Iran and Iraq. The Algerian president personally oversaw the signing of the Algiers Agreement in 1975, which put a temporary end to the Iran-Iraq conflict.

2- In 1979, Iran witnessed a great popular revolution that overthrew the Shah’s regime. Algeria welcomed this revolution as a popular liberation revolution, based on the revolutionary heritage of Algeria, which was struggling within an international alliance to resist Western imperialist hegemony and its local tools in the Afro-Asian region.

This official and popular Algerian welcome was embodied by sending a delegation that included great Islamic symbols in the Algerian regime.As it included Minister Mouloud Kassem Nayet Belkacem;the Minister of Religious Affairs and Education, and the supervisor of the annual Islamic Thought Forums organized by Algeria.The Islamic Thought Forums welcomed Muslim scholars and thinkers from Sunnis, Shiites, and various Islamic countries. The delegation included Sheikh Ahmed Hamani, head of the Supreme Islamic Council and aMujahid in the liberation revolution, the delegation met with Khomeini, the leader of the revolution at the time.

3- The Algerian-Iranian relations have maintained their previous level, at that time Algeria did not support Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war between 1980 and 1988, but it sought mediation to stop the war between the two countries.However, Algeriapaid a heavy price with the martyrdom of its Minister of Foreign Affairs, Muhammad Al-Siddiq bin Yahya, in May 1982 on his way to Tehran when his plane was targeted and shot down.

This targeting confirmed that regional and international powers did not want the war to end and did not want the Algerian diplomatic mediation to succeed.

4- Algerian President Chadli Bendjedid visited Iran in 1982 to strengthen relations between the two countries.Especially since Algeria sponsored Iranian interests in Washington after ending diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States of America.This was due to the crisis of holding American hostages in the American embassy in Tehran, which is an international crisis that Algerian diplomacy played a key role in resolving peacefully and releasing the hostages.

5- After the popular uprising of October 5, 1988, and Algeria’s entry into the stage of political pluralism after nearly three decades of the one-party system, several political parties with Islamic orientations were formed, most notably the Islamic Salvation Front. The Iranian embassy in Algiers accompanied this democratic transformation and was participating in partisan activities and events. In fact, the embassy headquarters turned into a meeting place and shrine for many Algerian political leaders. This behavior bore the seeds of future rivalry between the two countries, which ended with an estrangement. Algeria considered these actions as Iranian interference in internal affairs and as a support for some parties.

Iran underestimated the political situation in Algeria at the beginning of the democratic transition and disregard the reaction of the Algerian regime. After the dissolution of the Islamic Salvation Front, which won the legislative elections on December 26, 1991, the results of which were annulled. President Chadli Bendjedid resigned on January 12, 1992, and the collective presidency led by Mohamed Boudiaf was one of the symbols of the Algerian liberation revolution.After the end of the first six months of Boudiaf’s assassination, Ahmed Jannati declared, his great pleasure in the assassination of President Boudiaf; Jannati who is one of the senior Ayatollahs in Iran and was at that time the head of the Guardian Council and the preacher of Friday prayers in Tehran. Algeria described this behavior as “despicable, uncivilized,crude, and an irresponsible statement that contradicts Islamic and human values.”

6- In the same period that followed the abolition of the electoral process and the resignation of President Chadli Bendjedid in January 1992, followed by the advent of the collective presidency represented by the Supreme Council of State headed by Mohamed Boudiaf. Iranian elements besieged the headquarters of the Algerian embassy in Tehran and the residence of the Algerian ambassador, Abdelkader Hajjar.

7- Iran also opened a consulate in the Moroccan city of Oujda, near the Algerian-Moroccan border, in a provocative step that was considered a threat to Algerian national security.

8- The events accelerated from the expulsion of Iranian diplomats to Algeria’s official announcement in 1993 to the estrangement of diplomatic relations with Iran.

9- Algeria has withdrawn from sponsoring Iranian interests in the United States of America.

10 – Algeria accused Iran of supporting terrorist groups.

11-Algerian diplomacy was unable to convince the Iranian leadership to stop interfering in Algeria’s internal affairs through Syrian and Libyan mediations, all of which were doomed to failure.

12- Algeria refused to receive an Iranian envoy, as Iran is the chair of the Organization of the Islamic Conference Summit, as a special envoy to develop a vision for resolving the Algerian internal crisis.

With Iran’s insistence on the policy of interference in Algerian internal affairs and even the adoption of hostile positions for Algeria in multilateral international bodies, Algerian-Iranian relations remained in anestrangement for most of the nineties of the last century. During this period, Algerian Foreign Minister Lakhdar Brahimi expressed the state of bilateral relations between the two countries.“… Iran had a special vision as it expected to have a base in Algeria for purposes that did not achieve, which led to its anger.”

Reestablishing relations and soft intervention attempts

With the advent of former Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Bouteflika to the presidency of Algeria in April 1999, a new phase began in Algerian-Iranian relations on the sidelines of international conferences.To be finally resumed at the level of exchanging diplomatic missions, appointing ambassadors, re-establishing these relations anew, and opening many areas of cooperation.Some described it as relations reached maturity, and these relations continued to expand over the last two decades.It was characterized by Iran’s soft attempts to interfere in internal affairs through the portal of cultural work through its cultural attaché at the Iranian embassy (Amir Mousavi). Through his frequent travels across the Algerian provinces and his intense and suspicious activity through social networks; This time, the Algerian media and civil society exposed the various attempts to intervene, and he ended up leaving Algeria in 2018.

We also record attempts through Iranian studies centers and others to influence Algerian society.However, the conditions in the Arab region and what happened in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and the Gulf states contributed significantly to the growing degree of vigilance and the growing sensitivity towards Iran.

The Algerian-Iranian relations have reached a state of stability. However, these relations, although have reached a stage where Iran stops its behavior by interfering in internal affairs.Yet Algeria, despite its keenness to maintain this relationship, is also keen for Iran to stop interfering in the internal affairs of neighboring Arab countries. Adding to the list Algeria’s keenness on Arab national security is what it expressed during the attacks of Iran’s Arab allies against Saudi Arabia and the Emirates.Moreover, Algeria is keen on Arab reunification, revitalizing joint Arab action, and strengthening its immunity against Iranian interference, especially since it has experienced these interventions, and it is a country that is geographically far from it, let alone its immediate neighbors in Iraq, the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula, and Yemen.