Tehran — During the early days of the revolution, the Islamic Republic of Iran aimed to chart a course that was “neither East nor West.” It was a concept borrowed from a popular slogan of its founder and former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Thirty-five years later, however, Iran appears to be pursuing a “not only East, but also West” approach.

The likelihood of reaching a comprehensive nuclear deal with the West this summer raises the question of how Iran will behave toward Russia (a years-long partner, albeit a shaky one, in the oil, gas, nuclear and defense spheres) and the United States (a potential partner that has led the international effort to isolate, contain and sanction Iran, but is increasingly in conflict with Russia).

The prominent Iranian economist Fariborz Raisdana told Al-Monitor that Iran has always tended toward the West, namely, the United States, which has dominated the world economy. “In my opinion, [President Hassan Rouhani] has already begun moving toward both the East and the West,” said Raisdana, “but what I see in him and his administration, and saw in the [Akbar] Hashemi Rafsanjani administration, in the [Mohammad] Khatami administration and even in the [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad administration, is that they all had a tendency toward the West.” He predicted that Iran “will gradually get closer to the West.”

In regard to Ahmadinejad seeking better relations with the West, Raisdana noted that the populist president’s policies were “all in accordance with the International Monetary Fund.” Even in his final months, Ahmadinejad called for closer ties to the United States. The main difference between Ahmadinejad and pro-reform presidents, he noted, is the domestic partners they chose. “Ahmadinejad was inclined to pick people with military ties, while Rouhani has his own, nonmilitary circles.”