Dealing with a Difficult Iran: Get Smart

Posted: March 2nd, 2017

By John Limbert

John Limbert is a Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the U.S. Naval Academy and the author of numerous books and articles on Iran. During a 34-year diplomatic career, he served mostly in the Middle East and Islamic Africa (including two tours in Iraq), was Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, and served as deputy assistant secretary of state responsible for Iranian affairs. He worked in Iran as a university and high school teacher, and served at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, where he was held hostage in 1979-81.

Like it or not, the Trump Administration will have to pay attention to Iran. The President’s predecessors, beginning in 1979, have taken multiple paths, usually with few results beyond frustration. Unable to ignore the Islamic Republic, they tried containment, regime change, and engagement. Nothing much worked, and – with a few exceptions – little changed as the two countries remained camped on opposite sides of an abyss trading threats, insults, and accusations.

Even those decades of futility, however, have provided lessons to be learned and suggest a path for the new administration.

“The Cipher Brief has become the most popular outlet for former intelligence officers; no media outlet is even a close second to The Cipher Brief in terms of the number of articles published by formers.” —Sept. 2018, Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 62

Access all of The Cipher Brief’s national security-focused expert insight by becoming a Cipher Brief Subscriber+ Member.

Subscriber+