Description
This paper examines the Iranian nuclear programme as a case study in the complex interplay between structure and meaning. By tracing the project’s evolution from the Pahlavi period (1921-79) to the Islamic Republic, this article focuses on the Iranian nuclear project as a symbol and tool of ideological contestation. Historian Ali Ansari notes that “one of the key, possibly pivotal contests which has permeated Iranian political discourse in the twentieth century has been an ideological one, in which different factions have fought for the right to define Iranian history.” Part of this semantic struggle to redefine ‘Iran’ according to a particular ideological conception was the dismantlement of the preceding ideological structure. In some cases, however, these processes of dismantlement took the form of appropriation and ‘ontological redefinition’. The most explicit ideological representation of the Pahlavi monarchy, the Shahyad monument in Tehran, was not destroyed by the revolutionaries. Instead it was appropriated, redefined as the Azadi (freedom) monument, and incorporated into the new revolutionary narrative.
A similar pattern is evident in the case of another key initiative emblematic of the Pahlavi era: the Iranian nuclear project. Historically, the latter has undergone a process of ‘ontological redefinition,’ involving its appropriation, reinterpretation, and ‘ideologisation’ to align with the evolving political identity of the state. Originally envisioned as part of the Shah’s project to project Iran as a modern nation on par with Western states, the nuclear programme was suspended following the Islamic Revolution. However, by 1984, the Iranian leadership reversed this policy, redefining the nuclear project as a symbol of pride, sovereignty, and resistance to anti-imperialism. This article argues that the contest over the Iranian nuclear project has been one of meaning rather than structure, intrinsically linked to the leader’s constant semantic struggle for the right to define Iranian history.
