Navigating Iran From Carter to Obama

The book provides a full account of the politics and intelligence of American relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran from the Carter presidency to the Obama administration. It accounts for all major facets of Iranian policy of interest to the United States; nuclear proliferation, revolutionary export and support for international terrorism, efforts to undermine the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and violation of human rights. It uses contemporaneous comparisons between developments in Iran and how they have been perceived in Washington, providing the clearest picture available yet of the discrepancies between the complex and elusive Iranian reality and its understanding in the United States.

Ofira Seliktar is a professor of Political Science at Gratz College and heads the Strategy and Intelligence Section at the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa. She is the author of numerous books, articles, and chapters on intelligence. Her latest works include Doomed to Failure? The Politics and Intelligence of the Oslo Peace Process and The Politics of Intelligence and America Wars with Iraq. Her book politics, Paradigms and Intelligence Failures. Why So Few Predicated the Collapse of the Soviet Union was recognized by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She is currently at work on a new project, Are Revolutionary outcomes Predictable: The Theory and Practice of the Arab Spring.

Introduction: Predicting Political Change in Iran: A History of Failure * The Carter Administration Iran’s Policy: Sowing a Revolution and Reaping a Whirlwind * The Carter Administration and the Islamic Republic of Iran: Navigating the Uncharted Territory of Islamist Foreign Policy * The Reagan Administration’s Balancing Act:  Confusion in Washington and Tehran * The Bush 41 Administration: To Contain or not to Contain * The Clinton Administration: The Politics of Reluctant Containment * The Clinton Administration and Khatami’s Iran: A New Era in Relations? * The Bush 43 Administration’s “Axis of Evil”:  Back to Containment * The Bush Administration and Ahmadinejad’s Iran: The Limits of Containment * The Obama Administration: The Rise and Fall of the Iran Outreach Project * Reflections on American Politics and Intelligence in Iran: A Guide for the Perplexed * Conclusion: Looking to Learn the Lessons of Failure