U.S.-Iran Misperceptions : A Dialogue

Can Iranians and Americans find common ground to overcome their troubled history? U.S.-Iran Misperceptions is the first written dialogue on the key issues that separate these two great countries. Bringing together former policy makers and international relations experts from the United States and Iran, U.S.-Iran Misperceptions: A Dialogue provides new insights into and arguments about how each country's elites view the other, and how misperceptions have blocked the two from forging a normal and productive relationship. Guided by the leading theorist of misperceptions in international relations, Columbia University Professor Robert Jervis, the book moves from Jervis's opening essay to consider mutual perceptions of ideology, nuclear weapons, neo-imperialism, regional hegemony, and the future of the relationship. It presents authoritative, clear-eyed assessments, while seeking plausible ways the two countries can avoid a catastrophic war and rebuild the relationship. U.S.-Iran Misperceptions: A Dialogue offers uncompromising analysis and cautious optimism.

“An incisive and masterful analysis of one of our era's most enigmatic international conflicts. A must read for anyone following US-Iran relations. ” —Trita Parsi, President of the National Iranian American Council

“This is a timely and interesting book. Relations between Iran and the US are undergoing fundamental change, and the essays in this volume perceptively analyze the mutual missteps of the past and prospects for the future.” —Haleh Esfandiari, Director, Middle East Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, USA

“At a time when relations between the U.S. and Iran are at a pivot point that could lead to tangible improvement or deepening confrontation, U.S.-Iran Misperceptions provides crucial context. Understanding these misperceptions--as detailed by some of the most astute observers of the U.S. and Iran--could help the two countries stop reopening old wounds and find areas of common ground beneficial to their peoples and the wider world.” —Barbara Slavin, Senior Fellow, the Atlantic Council, and author of Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the U.S. and the Twisted Path to Confrontation (2007)