Confronting Iran: The Failure of American Foreign Policy and the Next Great Crisis in the Middle East and the Next Great Crisis in the Middle East

by Ali Ansari

Overview

Iran refuses to relent in developing nuclear technology, despite U.N. sanctions. Rumors persist that Israel is drawing up plans for military strikes. Neither the emboldened Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nor the embattled President Bush has relented in his war of words. How did we get here? Iran expert Ali Ansari sets the current crisis in the context of a long history of mutual antagonism. From the overthrow of Mosaddeq in 1953 to the hostage crisis in 1979 and, more recently, the Gulf War and the War in Iraq, both Iranian and American politicians have forged conflicting narratives about an "evil empire" lying half a world away-resulting in a mutual mistrust that may ultimately lead to war.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465003518
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	07/03/2007
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Ali M. Ansari is a highly regarded specialist in the field of Iranian history and politics. Currently a member of the Modern History faculty at the University of St. Andrews, he holds a doctorate from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. He has written for periodicals, including the Financial Times and the Independent (London). Confronting Iran is his third book. He lives in Fife, Scotland.

Table of Contents

Chronology     ix
Introduction     1
Imperial Hubris     7
1953     19
1979     55
The United States and the Islamic Republic     93
Khatami and the Reform Movement     147
Iran-US Relations in the Shadow of 9/11     165
Nuclear Politics     197
Conclusion     233
Afterword     243
Acknowledgments     257
Notes     259
Glossary     275
Sources and Guide to Further Reading     278
Index     281