A Political History
Vali Nasr
Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies
School of Advanced International Studies
Johns Hopkins University
At Busboys & Poets, 450K St
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, Nasr 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.
Time will be allocated for Q&A.
"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
Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing at the event.
Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins-SAIS, and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center. Between 2012 and 2019 he served as the Dean of the School, and between 2009 and 2011 as Senior Advisor to U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke. Nasr has advised world leaders and major corporations, and is the author of several books including, Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political History; How Sanctions Work, Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare; The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat; The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam will Shape the Future; Democracy in Iran; as well as articles in scholarly journals, and commentary in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. He is the recipient of Carnegie Scholar Award, and the Frank Guggenheim, and MacArthur Foundation research fellowships. He was selected as Henry Alfred Kissinger Resident Scholar at Library of Congress for 2024-25.