In December 2005, JK spoke to the Council on Foreign Relations giving an address titled, “Real Security in a Post-9/11 World”. It is worth revisiting in its entirety but one of the underlying points of the speech was the need for us to use all the tools in the toolbox, to move away from overwhelming reliance on the military option to fight terror and to develop a more multi-faceted approach to bringing peace and stability to our world. He mentioned in particular, the need for US citizens to develop a deeper understanding of the world we are engaged in, to “mobilize our universities and our intellectual capital to understand and address the challenges that we face. We need a real investment in language studies and area studies so that our intelligence, our use of force, our diplomacy are better informed and more effective.”

With that thought in mind, I’d like to point out some resources that we can use to broaden our understanding of the world we are engaged in. Past blogposts have highlighted information about Lebanon and about the Shia – Sunni history. In this one I’d like to focus on Iran. In preparing this post, I’ve come to realize there is no easy way to do this. Iran just has so much history. So we’re going to take one small step today in pointing out learning resources and we’ll visit it again.

First off, let’s start with a re-adjustment of how we think of Iran and its current day position with regard to the US. Not all that long ago, Iran was a significant partner for us against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Newsweek ran a lengthy story by Michael Hirsch and Maziar Bahari called “Rumors of War” in the Feb. 19, 2007 issue. In it they highlighted a story of cooperation between Iran and the US that occurred after 9/11—a story that we don’t hear much about these days but it illustrates the cyle of cooperation and confrontation that exists between the two nations.

Yet a NEWSWEEK investigation has also found periods of marked cooperation and even tentative steps toward possible reconciliation in recent years—far more than is commonly realized. After September 11 in particular, relations grew warmer than at any time since the fall of the shah. America wanted Iran’s help in Afghanistan, and Iran gave it, partly out of fear of an angry superpower and partly in order to be rid of its troublesome Taliban neighbors. In time, hard-liners on both sides were able to undo the efforts of diplomats to build on that foundation. The damage only worsened as those hawks became intoxicated with their own success. The secret history of the Bush administration’s dealings with Iran is one of arrogance, mistrust and failure. But it is also a history that offers some hope.

For Iran’s reformists, 9/11 was a blessing in disguise. Previous attempts to reach out to America had been stymied by conservative mullahs. But the fear that an enraged superpower would blindly lash out focused minds in Tehran. Mohammad Hossein Adeli was one of only two deputies on duty at the Foreign Ministry when the attacks took place, late on a sweltering summer afternoon. He immediately began contacting top officials, insisting that Iran respond quickly. “We wanted to truly condemn the attacks but we also wished to offer an olive branch to the United States, showing we were interested in peace,” says Adeli. To his relief, Iran’s top official, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, quickly agreed. “The Supreme Leader was deeply suspicious of the American government,” says a Khameini aide whose position does not allow him to be named. “But [he] was repulsed by these terrorist acts and was truly sad about the loss of the civilian lives in America.” For two weeks worshipers at Friday prayers even stopped chanting “Death to America.”

The fear dissipated after Sept. 20, when the FBI announced that Al Qaeda was behind the attacks. But there was new reason for cooperation: for years Tehran had been backing the Afghan guerrillas fighting the Taliban, Osama bin Laden’s hosts. Suddenly, having U.S. troops next door in Afghanistan didn’t seem like a bad idea. American and Iranian officials met repeatedly in Geneva in the days before the Oct. 7 U.S. invasion. The Iranians were more than supportive. “In fact, they were impatient,” says a U.S. official involved in the talks, who asked not to be named speaking about topics that remain sensitive. “They’d ask, ‘When’s the military action going to start? Let’s get going!’ “

Opinions differ wildly over how much help the Iranians actually were on the ground. But what is beyond doubt is how critical they were to stabilizing the country after the fall of Kabul. In late November 2001, the leaders of Afghanistan’s triumphant anti-Taliban factions flew to Bonn, Germany, to map out an interim Afghan government with the help of representatives from 18 Coalition countries. It was rainy and unseasonably cold, and the penitential month of Ramadan was in full sway, but a carnival mood prevailed. The setting was a splendid hotel on the Rhine, and after sunset the German hosts laid on generous buffet meals under a big sign promising that everything was pork-free.

The Iranian team’s leader, Javad Zarif, was a good-humored University of Denver alumnus with a deep, measured voice, who would later become U.N. ambassador. Jim Dobbins, Bush’s first envoy to the Afghans, recalls sharing coffee with Zarif in one of the sitting rooms, poring over a draft of the agreement laying out the new Afghan government. “Zarif asked me, ‘Have you looked at it?’ I said, ‘Yes, I read it over once’,” Dobbins recalls. “Then he said, with a certain twinkle in his eye: ‘I don’t think there’s anything in it that mentions democracy. Don’t you think there could be some commitment to democratization?’ This was before the Bush administration had discovered democracy as a panacea for the Middle East. I said that’s a good idea.”

Toward the end of the Bonn talks, Dobbins says, “we reached a pivotal moment.” The various parties had decided that the suave, American-backed Hamid Karzai would lead the new Afghan government. But he was a Pashtun tribal leader from the south, and rivals from the north had actually won the capital. In the brutal world of Afghan power politics, that was a recipe for conflict. At 2 a.m. on the night before the deal was meant to be signed, the Northern Alliance delegate Yunus Qanooni was stubbornly demanding 18 out of 24 new ministries. Frantic negotiators gathered in the suite of United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. A sleepy Zarif translated for Qanooni. Finally, at close to 4 a.m., he leaned over to whisper in the Afghan’s ear: ” ‘This is the best deal you’re going to get’.” Qanooni said, ” ‘OK’.”

That moment, Dobbins says now, was critical. “The Russians and the Indians had been making similar points,” he says. “But it wasn’t until Zarif took him aside that it was settled … We might have had a situation like we had in Iraq, where we were never able to settle on a single leader and government.” A month later Tehran backed up the political support with financial muscle: at a donor’s conference in Tokyo, Iran pledged $500 million (at the time, more than double the Americans’) to help rebuild Afghanistan.

Not what we’re accustomed to hearing these days with regard to Iran.

As I complained to someone as I was researching this, the problem is Iran just has too much history. Actually, it’s just that it doesn’t lend itself to a 3 paragraph summary. I did find some resources that may be of help to those who are starting from square 1 with regard to knowledge of Iran. And as always in this region, current events have deep historical roots which are ignored only at great peril.

Both the Washington Post and the New York Times have resource pages on Iran which provide a brief overview of the current geography, economy, population as well as a brief history. If you’ve not read anything before about Iran, this may be a good place to start. The history summaries, which both draw from the Columbia University Electronic Encyclopedia, are “readable”.   WaPo history     NYTimes history

I found this timeline of Iranian/’Persion History placed side-by-side with historical milestones elsewhere in the world very useful in getting my arms around just how much Iranian history there is. The same people at Iransaga have also developed a very readable history with some great maps.

The Wikipedia entry on Iran has a good summary of Iranian history and culture along with a few pictures.

There is a much more scholarly source of articles about Iran and Iranian history at CAIS, The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies. They also have a “brief history” of Persia which covers earlier Iranian history with some interesting details.

Here is another timeline of Iranian history which stretches back 7000 years. I found their summary of the period starting in 1900 interesting.

For those comfortable in acquiring some of their background knowledge from blogs, there’s a highly readable 7-part series at dailykos by diarist Unitary Moonbat, an amateur historian, titled “History for Kossacks: Persia”. Lengthy but entertaining as well as informative.   Parts   1-   -2   3-   -4   5-   -6   7

Finally, a query placed to Juan Cole of Informed Comment brought these recommendations for those with access to libraries or a good online ordering service.

— Nikki Keddie, Roots of Revolution, 1981, and the updated, expanded Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution, Updated Edition, Aug. 2006.

—Alessandro Bausani’s little book, The Persians, though older, is good for the earlier period.

—Elton Daniel also has a survey, The History of Iran

If you have any recommendations for reading about Iran, either modern history, current day events or more of Iran’s extensive history, please share them with us in the comments.

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