Enduring Hostility

The Making of America's Iran Policy

By: Dalia Dassa Kaye

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Hardcover | 2 December 2025

At a Glance

Hardcover
277 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.9 x 15.2

Hardcover

$286.75

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American policy toward Iran has remained remarkably consistent since the earliest years of the Reagan administration. US-Iran hostility has endured for longer than the Cold War. Momentous geopolitical shifts, changing leaderships, and evolving domestic priorities have not fundamentally altered this antagonistic relationship. Standard explanations pin the blame for this enduring hostility on Iran and its leaders' revolutionary ideology and policies at odds with the United States and the West. While Iran bears significant blame for a deeply adversarial relationship—the country often engages in dangerous and repressive activities—this book demonstrates that "it's them, not us" accounts cannot alone explain America's posture toward this complicated but critically important country. Drawing on original interviews with former government officials, oral histories, memoirs, congressional hearings, archival material, and the author's own participation in dozens of Iran-related track two meetings, Dalia Dassa Kaye deftly explores how America's Iran policy is made, the people who make it, and the underlying ideas and perceptions that inform it. Dassa Kaye looks back at US policy toward Iran over the past four decades to help us look ahead, offering wider lessons for understanding American foreign policymaking.

Industry Reviews

"In this incisive and timely book, Dalia Dassa Kaye tells the story of over four decades of America's effort to contend with Iran's regional role and nuclear ambitions. A much-needed resource on an urgent topic and a must-read for policymakers and academics." -Vali Nasr, author of Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History "Enduring Hostility fills an important gap in our understanding of the troubled relationship between Iran and the United States. Digging deep into history, and drawing on new evidence, Dalia Dassa Kaye finds that American policy towards Iran is, at its core, 'homegrown.' A thoughtful, readable, and important analysis for anyone interested in the contemporary Middle East." -Janice Gross Stein, University of Toronto

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