Iran and the United States, An Insider’s View on the Failed Past and the Road to Peace

“Hossein Mousavian, a former negotiator for Iran, continues to provide a unique insight into Iran’s policy perspectives and negotiating objectives. In Iran and the United States he adds a useful dimension to the literature on U.S.-Iran relations by recounting the history of these two powers as seen from Tehran. This account is fresh, readable and filled with original information and interpretations.” –  Gary Sick, Director, Gulf/2000 Project (G2K) at Columbia University, USA, and author of All Fall Down: America’s Tragic Encounter With Iran

“This wise and fascinating perspective on the history of Iran’s relations with the United States, written by a sophisticated Iranian insider, will provide concerned Americans and Iranians with an understanding of the causes of past failures to establish a more constructive relationship and of the current window of opportunity.” –  Frank von Hippel, Professor of Public and International Affairs emeritus, Princeton University

“In his Iran and the United States, Seyed Hossein Mousavian has provided us with a well-reasoned, superbly written, Iranian perspective on his country’s history, politics, its ties to the US and the present, vitally important nuclear negotiations. Mousavian, a former senior official and diplomat in the Islamic Republic, brings to bear the insights of an insider. Valuable, well informed, timely are descriptions which come to the mind of anyone, like myself, who read this book and have followed closely America’s complex relationship with Iran, and believe in the importance of finding common ground.” –  Frank G. Wisner, International Affairs Advisor, Patton Boggs, LLP

“Agree or disagree with his opinions, Hossein Mousavian’s book is worth a careful read. His point of view is too rarely heard by Western audiences, and provides a thought-provoking counterweight to the conventional American wisdom about this most difficult relationship.” –  John Limbert, Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, US Naval Academy, and author of Negotiating with Iran: Wrestling the Ghosts of History

“Part memoir and part analysis, Seyed Hossein Mousavian’s Iran and the United States is must reading for anyone interested in understanding the difficult relationship between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States. Mousavian, who served in senior posts in the Iranian government, knows the players and directly participated in many of the events he describes, including nuclear negotiations, an attempted assassination by the MEK, and his own arrest by the Iranian government. Mousavian also knows the US, his home for the last several years. Few observers can bring such an acute understanding of both countries’ very different perspectives on the world.” –  Ambassador Jim Walsh

“Seyed Hossein Mousavian provides in a remarkably lucid account the rare opportunity to learn from an Iranian insider who also understands the West. As a former ambassador to Germany, a nuclear negotiator with the current president of Iran, and a scholar at Princeton University, Mousavian has unique credentials to explain the many missed opportunities in the U.S.-Iran relationship. This book is unusually insightful and pragmatic both, recognizing the costs of enmity and the limits of détente. This deeply knowledgeable analysis is as good as it gets.” –  John Tirman, Executive Director, MIT Center for International Studies, and coauthor of U.S.-Iran Misperceptions: A Dialogue