Alex Vatanka - The Battle of the Ayatollahs in Iran: The United States, Foreign Policy, and Political Rivalry since 1979

The Battle of the Ayatollahs in Iran

The Battle of the Ayatollahs in Iran

The United States, Foreign Policy, and Political Rivalry since 1979

AlexVatanka

I.B. TAURIS

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK

1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA

29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland

BLOOMSBURY, I.B. TAURIS and the I.B. Tauris logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

First published in Great Britain 2021

Copyright Alex Vatanka, 2021

Alex Vatanka has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.

For legal purposes the constitute an extension of this copyright page.

Cover design by Alice Marwick

Cover images: [left] Khamenei Stringer/Getty Images; [right] Rafsanjani Iranian Supreme Leader Press Office/Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN: HB: 978-1-8386-0154-6

PB: 978-1-8386-0155-3

ePDF: 978-0-7556-0006-9

eBook: 978-0-7556-0005-2

To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com and sign up for our newsletters .

Alex Vatanka is a senior fellow and the director of the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC. He specializes in Middle Eastern regional security affairs with a particular focus on Iran. He was formerly a senior analyst at Janes Information Group in London. Born in Tehran, he holds a BA in Politics (Sheffield University, UK), and an MA in International Relations (Essex University, UK), and is fluent in Persian and Danish.

His first book was Iran and Pakistan: Security, Diplomacy, and American Influence (2015). He has also written chapters for a number of books, including Authoritarianism Goes Global (2016), Handbook on Contemporary Pakistan (2017), Russia in the Middle East (2018), Winning the Battle, Losing the War: Addressing the Drivers Fueling Armed Non-state Actors and Extremist Groups (2020), and Global, Regional and Local Dynamics in the Yemen Crisis (2020). Follow him @AlexVatanka.

This book is dedicated to my wife, Heidi; my children, Martin and Kathrin; my parents; and my sister, Buyuk, Shaheen, and Sharareh.

Contents

Maps

Figures

To the outside world, the policy-making process in Tehran is a maze of peculiar concepts and baffling practices. The idea behind writing this book was to put human faces on this labyrinth as the trajectory of Iranian foreign policy is retraced from that momentous year of 1979. That the Islamic Republics foreign policy is a whirlwind of sorts meant that writing this book was oftentimes a contest of catching up with events and forever emerging new revelations. As in any book project, I benefited greatly from the support of a long list of individuals. Colleagues at my intellectual home, the Middle East Institute (MEI) in Washington, DC, deserve particular appreciation. Paul Salem, Gerald Feierstein, Kate Seelye, and many other colleagues at MEI provided institutional and intellectual support. I also like to thank the MEI board and Chairman Richard A. Clarke, for keeping the flag flying as MEI celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2021. Ross Harrisons review of the draft manuscript and suggestions were invaluable as is his friendship.