Country or Region: Iran

Summary
At a time when international terrorism is the focal point of our concerns, a far more pressing threat has arisen to the balance of power in the world and ultimately to the security of our country. Since the Islamic Republic of Iran admitted, just two years ago, that it was secretly producing highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium, leading nations have struggled to react in an appropriate manner. In this book, the U.S. public is able to learn, in full detail and for the first time, exactly what the Europeans and UN have been trying to forestall.
In Iran we see a country, located at the center of the Middle East, which could very shortly have the ability to strike its immediate neighbors and nations farther away with nuclear weapons. With the innate size to dominate its region, Iran is also a country with an avowed mission to export it’s theocratic principles, and a nation which has, over the past 25 years, been a notorious supporter of terrorist organizations. Its parallel development of atomic bombs comprises the greatest threat that we have seen in the new millennium.
In Iran’s Nuclear Option, defense expert Al J. Venter details the extent to which Iran’s weapons program has developed, and the clandestine manner in which its nuclear technology has been acquired. He demonstrates how Tehran has violated the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and details the involvement of several countries who have been shown by the IAEA to have trafficked in illegal nuclear materials. He proves, for the first time, a direct link between the now-defunct South African apartheid regime’s nuclear program and Tehran’s current nuclear ambitions.
Venter digs deep into ancillary subjects, such as Iran’s fervor on behalf of Shiite Islam, its missile program-developed alongside its nuclear one-and the role of the Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guards), whose tentacles have spread throughout the Middle East and increasingly further afield. While noting Tehran’s support of terrorist groups such as Hizbollah, Venter follows closely how the Persian homeland itself has progressed toward a strategic nuclear capability that would make recent terrorist attacks look obsolete.
Iran’s Nuclear Option is essential reading for anyone with an interest in global security and the perilous volatility of the Middle East. It also comprises an indicator for America’s own options, should it be willing to counter the threat while time remains, in favor of world peace rather than greater global instability.

Summary
Bringing together a broad range of important articles from Foreign Affairs and ForeignAffairs.com, Iran and the Bomb tells the story of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons and the outside world’s struggle to respond.
The arguments presented span every significant position on the political spectrum, and the authors include world-renowned experts from several disciplines, backgrounds, and countries, including Jahangir Amuzegar, Ronen Bergman, Ehud Eiran, Richard Haass, Michael Ledeen, James Lindsay, Colin Kahl, Matthew Kroenig, Suzanne Maloney, Mohsen Milani, Scott Sagan, Gary Sick, Ray Takeyh, Kenneth Waltz, and more. An introduction by Foreign Affairs Editor Gideon Rose sets the stage for the debates that follow.
Released as policymakers in Washington and other capitals debate whether to deal with the Iran question once and for all, Iran and the Bomb contains everything needed to understand the crisis and develop an informed, independent opinion on what should be done about it.

Summary
The Iranian nuclear crisis has dominated world politics since the beginning of the century, with Iran now facing increasing diplomatic isolation, talk of military strikes against its nuclear facilities and a disastrous Middle East war. There is little real understanding of Iran’s nuclear program, in particular its history, which is now over fifty years old. This groundbreaking book, unprecedented in its scope, argues that the history of Iran’s nuclear program and the modern history of the country itself are irretrievably linked; only by understanding one can we understand the other. From the program’s beginnings under the Shah of Iran, the book details the US’s central role in the birth of nuclear Iran and, through the relationship between the program’s founder and the Shah of Iran himself, the role that weapons have played in the program since the beginning. David Patrikarakos’s unique access to “the father” of Iran’s nuclear program, as well as to key scientific personnel under the early Islamic Republic and to senior Iranian and Western officials at the center of today’s negotiations, sheds new light on the uranium enrichment program that lies at the heart of global concerns.

Summary
In 2013 it is possible that Israel, backed by the United States, will launch an attack on Iran. This would be a catastrophic event, risking war, bloodshed, and global economic collapse. In this passionate but rationally argued essay, the authors attempt to avert a potential global catastrophe by showing that the grounds for war do not exist, that there are no Iranian nuclear weapons, and that Iran would happily come to a table and strike a deal. They argue that the military threats aimed by the West against Iran contravene international law, and argue that Iran is a civilized country and legitimate power across the Middle East. For years Peter Oborne and David Morrison have, in their respective fields, examined the actions of our political classes and found them wanting. Now they have joined forces to make a powerful case against military action. In the wake of the Iraq war, will the politicians listen?

Summary
The first detailed Iranian account of the diplomatic struggle between Iran and the international community, The Iranian Nuclear Crisis: A Memoir opens in 2002, as news of Iran’s clandestine uranium enrichment and plutonium production facilities emerge. Seyed Hossein Mousavian, previously the head of the Foreign Relations Committee of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and spokesman for Tehran’s nuclear negotiating team, brings the reader into Tehran’s private deliberations as its leaders wrestle with internal and external adversaries.
Mousavian provides readers with intimate knowledge of Iran’s interactions with the International Atomic Energy Agency and global powers. His personal story comes alive as he vividly recounts his arrest and interrogations on charges of espionage. Dramatic episodes of diplomatic missions tell much about the author and the swirling dynamics of Iranian politics and diplomacy —undercurrents that must be understood now more than ever.
As intense debate continues over the direction of Iran’s nuclear program, Mousavian weighs the likely effects of military strikes, covert action, sanctions, and diplomatic engagement, considering their potential to resolve the nuclear crisis.

Summary
This book examines the strategic implications of Iran’s nuclear programme, providing an inventory of the negotiations and a discussion of possible solutions to this pressing international security issue.
The Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear programme has been the cause of one of the most extended international crises of the past decade. Multilateral institutions have been unable to resolve the issue, which has the potential to derail the global nuclear non-proliferation regime. Recent failures of diplomatic offers for an extended Iran-EU cooperation and projected US arms sales to Iran’s neighbours suggest an imminent escalation of the issue, which has been simmering since first reports about Iranian nuclear fuel-enrichment activities emerged in 2002.
Since then, the topic has been the subject of intense media coverage as well as academic and diplomatic debate. This volume brings together analysts and authors with diverse backgrounds, including international diplomats formerly involved in negotiations with Iranian officials. The various chapters bring together different perspectives and empirical analyses, and include detailed assessments of both US and European efforts in diplomatic relations with Iran, as well as of the domestic politics in Iran itself.
This book will be of interest to students of Iranian politics, Middle Eastern politics, strategic studies, nuclear proliferation, international security, foreign policy and IR in general.

Summary
This book investigates what is driving Iran’s nuclear weapons programme in a less-hostile regional environment, using a theory of protracted conflicts to explicate proliferation.
Iran’s nuclear weapons program has alarmed the international community since the 1990s, but has come to the forefront of international security concerns since 2000. This book argues that Iran’s hostility with the United States remains the major causal factor for its proliferation activities. With the US administration pursuing aggressive foreign policies towards Iran since 2000, the latter’s security threat intensified. A society that is split on many important domestic issues remained united on the issue of nuclear weapons acquisition after the US war in Iraq. Consequently, Iran became determined in its drive to acquire nuclear weapons and boldly announced its decision to enrich uranium, leaving the US in no doubt about its nuclear status.
This book underscores the importance of protracted conflicts in proliferation decisions, and underpinning this is the assumption that non-proliferation may be achieved through the termination of intractable conflicts. The aims of this work are to demonstrate that a state’s decision to acquire nuclear weapons depends largely on its engagement in protracted conflicts, which shows not only that the presence of nuclear rivals intensifies the nuclear ambition, but also that non-nuclear status of rival states can promote non-proliferation incentives in conflicting states inclined to proliferate.
This study will be of great interest to students of Iran, Middle Eastern politics, nuclear proliferation and international relations theory.

Summary
This book examines the dynamics of relations and the substance of the negotiations between the international community and Iran over the latter’s nuclear programme.
Iran’s nuclear programme and the alleged threat to international peace and security remains one of the most important issues in the United States, as well as in European foreign affairs. In the US, Iran has dominated the political discourse for over three decades and Europe has spent considerable political capital in finding a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear ambitions. While relations between both states remain subject to mutual hostility, the EU remains a channel of communication and since 2003 has maintained a multilateral negotiation framework.
By and large, the narrative on nuclear negotiations is dominated by constructivist and realist literature, portraying relations between the US and Iran in ideological terms as a prolonged struggle for regional influence. Embedded within conflict resolution and diplomatic theory, this work attempts to bridge this gap. Drawing upon primary documents and interviews, the text examines negotiation behaviour, and strategies and tools of statecraft, as well as analysing technical aspects of initiatives concerning the nuclear programme.
This book will be of much interest to students of nuclear proliferation, international diplomacy, Middle Eastern politics, security studies and IR in general.

Summary
Former U.N. Ambassador Dore Gold shows why engaging Iran through diplomacy is not only futile but also could be deadly. In the West, liberal politicians and pundits are calling for renewed diplomatic engagement with Iran, convinced that Tehran will respond to reason and halt its nuclear weapons program. Yet, countries have repeatedly tried diplomatic talks and utterly failed. In The Rise of Nuclear Iran, Gold examines these past failures, showing how Iran employed strategic deception and delay tactics to hide its intentions from the West. He argues that Western policymakers underestimate Iran s hostility toward us and explains why diplomacy will continue to backfire, no matter which party or president is in power.