The Program:  “Four Decades of U.S.-Iran Conflict and the Drumbeats of a Regional War” – The row between the United States and Iran that began with the Iranian Revolution of 1979 has been a dominant feature of each country’s foreign policy and regional alignments in the Middle East for the past four decades. President Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, the re-imposition of crushing sanctions, and veiled threats of regime change have pushed the conflict toward a potential military confrontation between Iran and the U.S. and its regional allies. The talk will examine the history and the driving forces of this conflict and the likelihood of its turning into a confrontation that would involve other players in the region and beyond..

Presenter: Ali Banuazizi is Professor of Political Science at Boston College and Director of the Program in Islamic Civilization & Societies, and a Research Fellow at M.I.T.’s Center for International Studies. He is the author of numerous articles on society, culture, and politics of Iran and the Middle East, and the coauthor (with A. Ashraf) of Social Classes, the State and Revolution in Iran (2008); coeditor (with Myron Weiner) of three books on politics, religion and society in Southwest and Central Asia; and Associate Editor of the Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. He is a past President of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA).