Iran’s Grand Strategy

“Two pervasive fears-of external aggression and internal dissolution-have dominated political discourse and state action in Iran for many decades, and arguably for centuries. This book closely examines these fears, how they’ve shaped political trends in Iran, and specifically how they have undergirded the conduct of state actors during both the regime of the Shah (the Pahlavi monarchy) of the twentieth century and the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution. Drawing on archival sources in the West and in Iran, as well as interviews with key Iranian decision-makers both past and present, Vali Nasr traces this thread of national security through key modern historical episodes in Iran. By viewing modern Iranian history through this lens, Nasr argues that decrying the current Iranian regime as a theocracy is a tired rhetorical move—and inaccurate as an explanation for how it conducts itself in the world. Today’s Islamic Republic functions as a modern legal-rational nation-state. It is one that has evolved around a distinct and deeply held view of national interest and national security, rooted in both recent and not-so-recent history.