Book Talk: Iran’s Rise and Rivalry with the U.S. in the Middle East
The U.S. tried to isolate Iran. Instead, it helped build a regional power.
In his riveting new book, Iran’s Rise and Rivalry with the U.S. in the Middle East, author and renowned scholar Mohsen Milani dissects the strategic logic behind Iran’s regional policy and tells the story of how a revolutionary state, boxed in by sanctions and war, emerged as one of the most influential forces in the region. From Iraq to Lebanon and Syria, and from Gaza to Yemen, Iran has entrenched itself through proxies, alliances, and a long-game the U.S. never fully grasped.
Milani unpacks how Washington’s post-1979 containment strategy backfired—and why Iran’s asymmetric approach to power still frustrates U.S., Israeli, and Saudi goals today. In conversation with Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute, this talk will explore the evolution of the U.S.-Iran rivalry, the architecture of the so-called “Axis of Resistance,” and the mounting internal and external pressures that could reshape the region again.
The conversation will take place on Tuesday, June 24th from 12:00 – 1:00 PM Eastern Time.
Program
Entities
Panelists
Mohsen Milani
Mohsen Milani is the executive director of the Center for Strategic & Diplomatic Studies and professor of Politics at the University of South Florida. An internationally recognized scholar, he has authored over 80 publications on Iranian politics and foreign policy. His book, The Making of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, is widely used in academic institutions. Dr. Milani has served as a research fellow at Harvard, Oxford, and the University of Venice, and has testified before the U.S. Congress on Iranian affairs.
Trita Parsi is the executive vice president of the Quincy Institute. He is an award-winning author and the 2010 recipient of the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. He is an expert on US-Iranian relations, Iranian foreign policy, and the geopolitics of the Middle East. He has authored four books on US foreign policy in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Iran and Israel. He has been named by the Washingtonian Magazine as one of the 25 most influential voices on foreign policy in Washington DC for five years in a row since 2021, and preeminent public intellectual Noam Chomsky calls Parsi “one of the most distinguished scholars on Iran.”