December 8, 2025
Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security (SGS) together with the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) hosted a public lecture Reflections on the June 2025 US Attacks on Iran: Causes, Consequences, and the Future of US-Iran Relations by Seyed Hossein Mousavian.
The lecture was introduced by Frank von Hippel, who co-founded SGS in 1974 and served as its co-director for its first 30 years, and is now a professor emeritus at Princeton University. von Hippel recruited Seyed Hossein Mousavian to join SGS in 2010. Mousavian was on the SGS research staff for 15 years as a Middle East Security and Nuclear Policy Specialist before he retired in May 2025.
In the lecture, Mousavian took as his starting point the Twelve Day War of June 2025 in which Israel and U.S. attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities, and which led to relations between Washington and Tehran entering their most dangerous and decisive period since the Iranian Revolution of 1979. The lecture explored three central questions: why did the U.S.–Iran relationship reach this crisis point, what have been the consequences so far, and what steps can be taken to prevent further war and lay a foundation for peace. As Washington and Tehran reassess their strategies amid a shifting balance of power in the Middle East, Mousavian offered his view on whether a new US-Iran nuclear deal was possible and the regional and global implications if no deal could be reached.
Mousavian is the author of six books, including “A Middle East Free of Weapons of Mass Destruction” (2020), “Iran and the United States, An Insider’s View on the Failed Past and the Road to Peace” (2014), and “Iranian Nuclear Crisis, A Memoir” (2012). He is currently working on a book on the rise and fall of the Iran nuclear deal.
Mousavian originally trained as an industrial engineer in Iran and later earned a PhD in international relations from the University of Kent, United Kingdom and went on to have career as an Iranian government official and a scholar. As a diplomat, he served as Iran’s Ambassador to Germany (1990-1997), and as Head of the Foreign Relations Committee of Iran’s National Security Council (1997-2005), Spokesman for Iran in its nuclear negotiations with the international community (2003-2005), Foreign Policy Advisor to the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (2005-2007), Vice President of the Center for Strategic Research for International Affairs (2005-2009), General Director of Foreign Ministry for West Europe (1987-1990), He was Chief of Parliament Administration (1984-1986) and the editor-in-chief of the English-language international newspaper Tehran Times.
https://sgs.princeton.edu/news-announcements/news-2025-12-08
