Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History

Vali Nasr; Vali Nasr

Presented to you through Paradigm Publishing Services

Princeton University Press

Visit our Partner Page See all our books

Book

Iran's Grand Strategy

A Political History

and

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2025

About this book

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.

Author / Editor information

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.

Reviews

"An Iranian-American scholar with close knowledge of the Islamic Republic, and access to Persian sources, traces how the revolutionary state turned its ideology into a doctrine of regional power, dressing up the shah’s imperial pretensions in clerical garb." --- "If you want to read one book to understand Iran and the role it plays in global politics, this is a worthwhile investment."---Ian Parmeter, Australian Book Review --- "Iran’s Grand Strategy pushes past the caricature that so often substitutes for analysis of Iran, and seeks to explain the rationale – however flawed – that underpins Iran’s regional strategy."---Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi, London Review of Books --- "Iran’s Grand Strategy is seriously good, profoundly insightful and full of fresh thinking."---Justin Marozzi, The Standard --- "An admirable primer without hysteria that would make salutary reading for both countries’ leadership."---Jude Russo, American Conservative --- "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 ever, draws on a lifetime of research and new interviews, providing a detailed and nuanced account of the mixture of domestic and international imperatives that really drive Iranian policy. The west’s understanding of Iran is, he argues, ‘hopelessly inadequate and dangerously outdated’."---Gideon Rachman, Financial Times --- "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 --- "Finalist for the PROSE Award in Government and Politics, Association of American Publishers"

Topics

Publicly Available

Frontmatter
i

Download PDF
Publicly Available

CONTENTS
ix

Download PDF
Publicly Available

A NOTE ABOUT THE BOOK
xi

Download PDF
Publicly Available

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
xiii

Download PDF
Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed

Introduction
1

Download PDF
Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed

Loom of History
12

Download PDF
Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed

PART I The Crucible of Revolution and War
33

Download PDF
Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed

PART II Khamenei and the Grand Strategy of Resistance
127

Download PDF
Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed

NOTES
281

Download PDF
Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed

BIBLIOGRAPHY
339

Download PDF
Requires Authentication Unlicensed

Licensed

INDEX
369

Download PDF

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

March 11, 2025

eBook ISBN:

9780691268934

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691268934

eBook ISBN: 9780691268934

Keywords for this book

War; Islamic; Iranian; Revolution; Republic; Military; Khomeini; Defense; Security; Country; Shia; Power; Resistance; Economic; Khamenei; Leaders; Nuclear; Forward; Revolutionary; Syria; Arab; Religious; Rafsanjani; Strategy; Strategic; Threat; Shah; Economy; Regional; Attack; Foreign; Tehran; Pressure; Iraqi; Government; Ideological; Saddam; Goal; Sanctions; Politics; Development; Russia; Region; Ideology; Policy; Crisis; Regime; Sacred defense; Institutions; Leadership; Hezbollah; Soviet; Interests; Saudi; Relations; Supreme; Oil; Persian; Supreme leader; Sunni; Foreign policy; Israeli; Victory; Population; Qods; Arabia; Mossadegh; Militias; Khatami; Assad

Audience(s) for this book

For a non-specialist adult audience

Princeton University Press

Iran's Grand Strategy

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Reviews

Topics

Table of contents

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

A NOTE ABOUT THE BOOK

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Introduction

Loom of History

PART I The Crucible of Revolution and War

PART II Khamenei and the Grand Strategy of Resistance

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Bibliographic data