Tehran Rising: Iran's Challenge to the United States

About the Book

The Islamic Republic of Iran today constitutes the single greatest challenge to the United States and the War on Terror. In the Persian Gulf and Central Asia, Iranian policymakers are busy cobbling together alliances intended to elevate it to the status of a regional superpower at the expense of the U.S. and its European allies. In Iraq, Iran is spending millions to perpetuate a lingering insurgency that threatens to transform the former Ba'athist state into another Islamic Republic. Iran remains the world's most active sponsor of terrorism, fueling the activities of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and al-Qaeda. And through its nuclear advances, mature chemical- and biological weapons programs, and an expanding conventional military, Iran is gaining the capability to catastrophically alter the balance of power far beyond its immediate neighborhood. All of this has been guided by an ambitious strategic agenda that is designed to make the Iranian regime the center of gravity in the post-Saddam Middle East.

As evidence of this threat mounts, one thing remains crystal clear to Ilan Berman: "Washington is woefully unprepared to deal with this mounting peril." Berman's approach is hard-hitting, provocative and unflinchingly critical. But he takes the exploration of Iran's menace one step further, providing what has been missing so far in the foreign policy discourse regarding Iran, both within the U.S. government and outside it—practical policy prescriptions designed to contain Iran's strategic ambitions.

Table of Contents:

Part 1 Foreword
Part 2 Introduction: Iran's Ascendance
Part 3 Part I: A Gathering Threat
Chapter 4 Terror's Source
Chapter 5 The Real "Islamic Bomb"
Chapter 6 Suddenly a Superpower
Chapter 7 The Northern Front
Part 8 Part II: Toward an American Response
Chapter 9 In Search of a U.S. Approach
Chapter 10 The Start of a Strategy
Chapter 11 Iranians for Regime Change
Part 12 Conclusion: Promise and Peril

About the Author :

Ilan Berman is one of the rising stars of American foreign policy. As vice president for policy of the Washington-based American Foreign Policy Council, he is a frequent guest on radio and television. An expert on regional security in the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Russian Federation, he has consulted for both the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Department of Defense, and provided assistance on foreign policy and national security issues to a range of governmental agencies and congressional offices. His writings on international security and American foreign policy have appeared in such influential publications as The National Interest, the International Herald Tribune, and the Financial Times, among others.

Berman is adjunct professor for International Law and Global Security at the National Defense University in Washington, DC. He also serves as a member of the reconstituted Committee on the Present Danger, and as Editor of the Journal of International Security Affairs. He is also the coeditor (with J. Michael Waller) of Dismantling Tyranny: Transitioning Beyond Totalitarian Regimes (2006).

Review :
Mr. Berman lays out a thoughtful U.S. strategy for containing Iran diplomatically, by rallying Turkey, Russia, and the Gulf state into greater appreciation of the regional threat Iran represents, while assuring them all of U.S. support. Ilan Berman's careful analysis and shrewd policy prescriptions are a welcome antidote to the fuddle that our Iran policy has become: Engage the great Iranian people, not its thugocratic theocracy. Exactly. Ilan Berman has written a powerful and compelling book about the greatest threat facing Israel and one of the greatest threats facing America, the emergence of a nuclear armed Iran. Every serious student of history who wants to understand the threats facing freedom and democracy should study this book. Ilan Berman chronicles two decades of listlessness in American policy to Iran. . . . His is a thoughtful assessment of a serious longstanding problem, and merits a careful read. A probing and insightful examination of Iran's growing threat to stability in the Middle East. Berman's work should be a wake-up call for policymakers in Washington. Berman makes a strong case for a U.S. policy of regime change; his book deserves serious attention. In [Berman's] view there is no better place to continue the President’s campaign in the Middle East than Iran. . . . However one may be attracted or repelled by [this] judgment, many readers are likely to feel enriched by learning what the volume provides on the very real problems of the region. . . . compelling . . .Anyone interested in the war on terror, and Iran's role in it, should read this thoughtful tome. For those who wonder why Washington is so worried about Iran's nuclear program, Ilan Berman's Tehran Rising is a gripping, timely reminder. . . . [Ilan Berman] has done such a convincing job in portraying the ruthlessness of the current rulers in Tehran . . . If the United States—and indeed, the world—loses, no one can say Berman didn't warn us. Mr. Berman's timely book explains both the urgency and the importance of the problem. Ilan Berman has written a useful new book that helps make sense of Iran's ambitions, and the means they are using to try to achieve them. Tehran Rising describes the consequences of the worst-case scenario, an emboldened nuclear-armed Iran establishing regional hegemony and continuing to utilize the cat's paw of terrorist surrogates that it has perfected in over 25 years of state sponsorship. Tehran Rising sets forth the serious and imminent threat Iran poses in its own region and to the United States and its allies. ... Most readers will come away convinced not only that the Iranian threat is real, but also that steps must be taken without delay to prevent its nuclear weapons program from reaching maturity. Ilan Berman's efficient, fact-packed book ... indicates plenty of reasons why Western diplomacy's sudden stiffening of spine toward Iran may still be too soft, too little and too late. Berman convincingly argues that the Iranian regime is pursuing an ambitious strategic agenda that will transform Iran into a regional superpower with the ability to greater threaten the interests of the United States and its allies. Tehran Rising: Iran's Challenge to the United States is...a timely and relevant discussion on the subject.