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Key Supporting Analyses

This site draws on a wide range of sources from a diverse array of eminent experts and scholars whose specific contributions are acknowledged in citations throughout the cite. A few sources merit special mention:

Commissioned papers

The background papers posted here were prepared by selected experts on commission from the American Foreign Policy Project and/or the International Civil Society Action network. The papers were discussed at a workshop held June 13, 2008 in Washington DC and in subsequent conference calls and online exchanges.

The facts conveyed and views expressed in these papers were used to inform the site generally, but the assertions made in these papers reflect the research and judgments of the author, and do not necessarily reflect either a group consensus or the position of any organization with which the author may be affiliated.

1. Internal governance structure and leadership of Iran

Farideh Farhi & Barbara Slavin, Key Myths and Facts about Iran's Governance and Leadership (May 2008)

Mohsen Milani, “Tehran's Take,” Foreign Affairs (July/August 2009).

Published Studies

1. Governance structure and leadership of Iran

Farideh Farhi, "Iran's 'Security Outlook'" (Middle East Report Online, July 9, 2007).

International Crisis Group, "Iran: Ahmadi-Nejad’s Tumultuous Presidency,"Middle East Briefing No. 21 (February 6, 2007).

International Crisis Group, "U.S. - Iranian Engagement: The View from Tehran"(Tehran/Brussels, June 2, 2009).

Mohsen Milani, “Tehran's Take,” Foreign Affairs, August 2009

2. Iran Nuclear Issues

James N. Miller, Christine Parthemore, Kurt M. Campbell, Dennis Ross, Suzanne Maloney, Ashton B. Carter, Vali Nasr, Richard N. Haass, Iran: Assessing U.S. Strategic Options (Center for a New American Security, September 2008).

Dennis Blair, “Intelligence Community Annual Threat Assessment,” February 12, 2009.

Director of National Intelligence, National Intelligence Estimate. Iran: Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities (November 2007).

Richard Haass, Living with a Nuclear Iran,

International Atomic Energy Agency, Agreement Between Iran And The International Atomic Energy Agency For The Application Of Safeguards In Connection With The Treaty On The Non-Proliferation Of Nuclear Weapons (IAEA, December 13, 1974).

International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran in Focus [Compilation of IAEA reports on Iran Nuclear File].

International Crisis Group, "Iran: Is There a Way Out of the Nuclear Impasse?" Crisis Group Middle East Report No. 51 (February 23, 2006).

Paul Kerr, Iran's Nuclear Program: Status (CRS, November 20, 2008).

Paul Kerr, Iran's Nuclear Program: Tehran's Compliance with International Obligations (CRS, December 8, 2008).

P5+1 Foreign Ministers, “Letter to HE Manuchehr Mottaki, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran (June 12, 2008).

William Luers, Thomas R. Pickering, and Jim Walsh, “A Solution for the US–Iran Nuclear Standoff,” The New York Review of Books 55, no. 4 (March 20, 2008).

Paul Rogers, "Iran: Consequences of a War (Oxford Research Group, February 2006).

Fiona Simpson, “Reforming the Nuclear Fuel Cycle: Time Is Running Out,” (Arms Control Association, September 2008).

John Tirman, "A New Approach to Iran: The Need for Transformative Diplomacy" (MIT Center for International Studies, April 2009).

Jim Walsh, “Addressing Iran's Nuclear Ambitions: Testimony by Dr. Jim Walsh before the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security, of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs,” April 24, 2008.

United Nations, Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, 1970.

3. Iran's role in Iraq

James A. Baker, III, and Lee H. Hamilton, Co-Chairs, The Iraq Study Group Report, December 6, 2006.

William Luers, Thomas R. Pickering, and Jim Walsh, “How to Deal with Iran,” The New York Review of Books 56, no. 2 (February 12, 2009).

Ray Takeyh, “Iran's New Iraq,” The Middle East Journal (Winter 2008): 13-31.

4. Iran's role in Afghanistan

James Dobbins, “Negotiating with Iran: Testimony by James Dobbins before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs,” November 7, 2007.

Barnett R. Rubin and Ahmed Rashid, “From Great Game to Grand Bargain,” Foreign Affairs (December 2008).

5. Iran, Hizbullah/Hamas and Israel

Augustus Richard Norton, Hezbollah: A Short History (2007).

Trita Parsi, Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the U.S. (Yale University Press 2007).

Daniel Sobelman, New Rules of the Game: Israel and Hizbollah after the Withdrawal from Lebanon (Jafee Center for Strategic Studies, January 2004).

6. U.S.-Iran Relations

Zbigniew Brzezinski & Brent Scowcroft, America and the World: Conversations on the Future of American Foreign Policy (Basic Books 2008), pp. 56-78.

Stephen Kinzer, All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror (John Wiley & Sons 2003).

William Luers, Thomas R. Pickering, and Jim Walsh, “How to Deal with Iran,” The New York Review of Books 56, no. 2 (February 12, 2009).

William Luers, Thomas R. Pickering, and Jim Walsh, “Iran, Iran, Iran,” Int'l Herald Tribune (January 16, 2009).

Mohsen Milani, “Tehran's Take,” Foreign Affairs, August 2009.

Vali Nasr and Ray Takeyh, “The Costs of Containing Iran," Foreign Affairs (January/February 2008).

Trita Parsi, Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the U.S. (Yale University Press 2007).

Gary Sick, “The Republic and the Rahbar,” National Interest Online (January 6, 2009).

Barbara Slavin, Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the U.S., and the Twisted Path to Confrontation (St. Martin's Press 2007).

John Tirman, "A New Approach to Iran: The Need for Transformative Diplomacy" (MIT Center for International Studies, April 2009).

Frederic Wehrey, David E. Thaler, Nora Bensahel, Kim Cragin, Jerrold D. Green, Dalia Dassa Kaye, Nadia Oweidat, Jennifer Li, "Dangerous But Not Omnipotent: Exploring the Reach and Limitations of Iranian Power in the Middle East (Rand Corporation, 2009).