Engaging Iran

Iran is poised to re-emerge as the powerhouse of the Middle East in the 21st century. Already taking on massive export and energy diversification projects and working to acquire a nuclear weapons arsenal, Iran is likely to attain the stature of regional power in the coming years, thanks in no small measure to the vacuum created by the chaos in Iraq, which for many years served as a counterweight to Iran in the region. Gonzalez illuminates the path toward a new approach to engagement with Iran. Only then can the United States reap the benefits of a new Middle East. But is a nuclear-armed Iran a direct strategic threat to the United States? While post-revolutionary politics have harnessed anti-Americanism as a matter of policy, Gonzalez argues that this is only a sign of a larger enterprise of democratization; a trajectory of independence, as the author calls it. This trajectory has led Iran to release itself from the shackles of foreign power intervention and has put it closer to home-grown democracy than any other nation in the Muslim Middle East. This promise of democracy, set in the wider scope of Iranian Shi'i jurisprudence and practice, is set to elevate the largest segment of Iranian society—its educated and pro-American youth—to the forefront of Iranian politics. The Middle East is in crisis, and within every crisis lies opportunity. America must not repeat the myopic mistakes of the past. A far-sighted and grand-strategic approach to engagement with Iran promises to open doors to regional stability and political development. Only then can America, as the global superpower, reap the benefits of a new Middle East, with the Islamic Republic of Iran at the helm.

The interface between the current Shi'ite landscape and Christian thinking is of the greatest significance for the shifting political and religious dynamics of the Middle East. Sasan Tavassoli here examines Iranian Shi'ite thinkers' encounters with Christian thought since the Islamic revolution of 1979, and provides insight into the cultural and intellectual climate surrounding Christian-Muslim dialogue in contemporary Iran. The literature on Christianity in Iran reveals a wide range of approaches and attitudes, and Tavassoli demonstrates that traditional polemics are giving way to a more descriptive and subjective understanding of Christian thought. He also studies Muslim-Christian dialogue and research conducted and supported by governmental as well as non-governmental organizations, and offers a close examination, with interviews, of the work of three prominent liberal religious intellectuals - Abdol Karim Soroush, Mostafa Malekian and Mojtahed Shabestari. Placing contemporary Shi'ite thought in the broad historical context of pre- and post-revolution Iran, Tavassoli relates concrete religious, cultural and socio-political realities to the themes and orientations in the latest phase of the Shi'i Islam-Christianity encounter, and offers fresh insight into the dynamism of contemporary Islam and the religious complexities of the Muslim world.

"The Trilateral Commission was formed in 1973 by private citizens of Europe, Japan, and North America to foster closer cooperation among these three democratic industrialized regions on common problems. It seeks to improve public understanding of such problems, to support proposals for handling them jointly, and to nurture habits and practices of working together. The Trilateral countries are nations in Europe, North America, and Pacific Asia that are both democratic and have market economies. They include the member and candidate member nations of the European Union, the three nations of North America, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand."--BOOK JACKET.

"A history of the relationship between Iran and America from the 1700s through the current day"--

Although it is too early to see which approach the Obama administration will take toward the resolution of the United States’ longstanding disputes with Iran, it is evident that the policy of avoiding direct diplomacy with Iran adopted by the Bush administration has fallen by the wayside. It is still difficult to determine if the Iranian leadership will give the Obama administration a very sympathetic hearing. The resurgent Iranian power in the region in the aftermath of the Bush administration’s gross miscalculations and uncertain ventures in Iraq and Afghanistan has sparked a vigorous debate in the Middle East. For the Bush administration, the choices were clear: either contain and deter Iran or confront it militarily. The latter had potentially serious repercussions for the entire region, even as the efforts aimed at engaging Iran on the Afghanistan war continued. Many experts noted that the Bush administration had shied away from serious talks with Iran at a time when they might have borne fruit. The complexities of regional politics and military interventions, however, have convinced US policymakers that the alternative to negotiation with Iran would be costly for the United States and destabilizing for its allies in the region. This paper’s main thrust is to make a case for direct diplomacy with Iran, while explaining factors that have contributed to the end of “coercive diplomacy” advocated by the Bush administration. The premise underlining this paper is that there has never been a stronger case for the normalization of relations between Iran and the United States in a region fraught with difficulties and crises. Iran’s stabilizing influencing in the region inevitably has enhanced its role in shaping the region’s geopolitics. Iran’s influence in Afghanistan can no longer be marginalized, nor can its role be underestimated in the southern parts of Iraq and Lebanon, as well as its ties with Hamas and Syria.

A comprehensive but concise overview of Iran's politics, economy, military, foreign policy, and nuclear program. The volume chronicles U.S.-Iran relations under six American presidents and probes five options for dealing with Iran. Organized thematically, this book provides top-level briefings by 50 top experts on Iran (both Iranian and Western authors) and is a practical and accessible "go-to" resource for practitioners, policymakers, academics, and students, as well as a fascinating wealth of information for anyone interested in understanding Iran's pivotal role in world politics.

The Islamic Republic has been struggling to reform itself for 25 years and each time the experiment has gone awry. Iran's revolutionary theocracy has evolved, but the most problematic aspects of its ideology and institutions have managed to endure since 1979. Can the Iran Nuclear Deal, an agreement crafted through intense dialogue with an old adversary, alter the essence of the Islamic Republic and its turbulent relationship with the world? In Iran Reconsidered: The Nuclear Deal and the Quest for a New Moderation Suzanne Maloney argues that the nature of the Islamic Republic amplifies the threat posed by its nuclear ambitions and animates the most tenacious opponents of the deal. For that reason, the fierce debate that has erupted in Washington over the deal hinges on the prognosis for Iran's future.