From the New York Times bestselling author of The Shia Revival
A gripping account that overturns simplistic portrayals of Iran as a theocratic pariah state, revealing how its strategic moves on the world stage are driven by two pervasive threats-external aggression and internal dissolution
Iran presents one of the most significant foreign policy challenges for America and the West, yet very little is known about what the country's goals really are. Vali Nasr examines Iran's political history in new ways to explain its actions and ambitions on the world stage, showing how, behind the veneer of theocracy and Islamic ideology, today's Iran is pursuing a grand strategy aimed at securing the country internally and asserting its place in the region and the world.
Drawing on memoirs, oral histories, and original in-depth interviews with Iranian decision makers, Nasr brings to light facts and events in Iran's political history that have been overlooked until now. He traces the roots of Iran's strategic outlook to its experiences over the past four decades of war with Iraq in the 1980s and the subsequent American containment of Iran, invasion of Iraq in 2003, and posture toward Iran thereafter. Nasr reveals how these experiences have shaped a geopolitical outlook driven by pervasive fear of America and its plans for the Middle East.
Challenging the notion that Iran's foreign policy simply reflects its revolutionary values or theocratic government, Iran's Grand Strategy provides invaluable new insights into what Iran wants and why, explaining the country's resistance to the United States, its nuclear ambitions, and its pursuit of influence and proxies across the Middle East. Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. His books include The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat, The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future, and (with Ali Gheissari) Democracy in Iran: History and the Quest for Liberty. His writing has appeared in leading publications such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Foreign Affairs. "A masterful account of Iran's grand strategy from the revolution through to the present day. Vali Nasr dispels the notion that Iran is motivated primarily by ideology or theology and instead writes a sophisticated account of a state that has developed a grand strategy based on the legacy of colonialism and the drive for independence and security. Nasr makes a compelling case that places Iran's dedication to resisting US power over several decades in this broader framework."-Leslie Vinjamuri, SOAS University of London
"Vali Nasr's pathbreaking book provides a history of the Islamic Republic from the inside out, taking readers into the mental framework of Iran's leaders as they navigate one crisis after another. Even experts will be startled by what Nasr reveals in this essential blueprint for understanding Iran."-Robert D. Kaplan, author of The Loom of Time: Between Empire and Anarchy, from the Mediterranean to China
"An indispensable analysis of Iranian grand strategy under the ayatollahs. Nasr shows how regional strategic considerations decide the outcome of Iranian policy and how concerned the leaders are with subversion at home."-Odd Arne Westad, author of The Cold War: A World History "Books like this that can help find method and reason behind the thinking at the highest levels within the Iranian leadership shed a welcome light on a country where what happens in the coming months and years will have implications that extend far beyond the corridors of power in Tehran."---Peter Frankopan, Financial Times "A lot of discussion in the west of what drives Iran's foreign policy struggles to rise above clichés about Islamist fanatics and mad mullahs. Nasr's detailed study, more relevant than eve
