Since 1925, Iranian governments purposefully shaped the Iranian national identity in an attempt to socially prioritize membership in nationalist and religious social groups, over others such as ethnicity or profession. Further, successive Iranian...
This study attempts to answer the following questions on the role of the Iranian armed forces in the fall of the Shah in 1979: (a) Did the armed forces do something that contributed to the causes which led the people of Iran to rise against the...
This study attempts to determine why the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was successfully overthrown by a religion, Shiite Islam. The investigation is focused on the large and powerful Imperial Iranian Armed Forces, the Shah's political...
Iran in the 1950s was in the cross hairs of the Cold War power struggle between the US and USSR. Strategically located, Iran became critical in the foreign policy endeavors of the Eisenhower Administration in the Middle East. After the decision to...
The Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) has pursued a nuclear program since 1985. In February 2006, with the last round of international negotiations having failed and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) having reported the dossier to the United...
The progress of the Iran-Iraq War has surprised analysts. In order of gain insight into events in the region and their implications, I propose an analytical framework using Carl Von Clausewitz and Martin Van Creveld, which is used to analyze the...
In the past decade, it has become apparent that the Iranian Government is not willing to give up its Nuclear Fuel Program. Though it claims that its endeavors are merely the pursuit of making nuclear fuel, the threat of an unsupervised Iranian...
The emergence of non-state actors and sub-national entities on the world stage has presented the established international system with challenges for which it is ill equipped to handle. The historical inclination to resort to military force when...
This thesis examines the intent of Iran's sea power strategy, and discovers that it is a definitive component of a coherent national security strategy of strategic deterrence designed to protect its strategic center of gravity--its oil....
In 1979 Ayatollah Khomeini's indirect approach ignited existing socio-economic conditions during the Iranian Revolution to topple the Shah. A similar indirect approach using psychological operations to target audiences through key vulnerabilities...
The 2010 U.S. National Security Strategy emphasized that the U.S. would use security sector assistance to build the capacity of at-risk nations and reduce the appeal of violent extremism and assist in resolving the world's armed conflicts. The 2010...
Weems, Ricardo; Ayala, Richard; Moorehouse, Salina; Rinehart, William; Winters, Steven
With the past historical perspective on terrorism, one can see exactly why it is imperative the United States remain in the Gulf region. With the U.S. military and State Department presence, Iraq has the opportunity to create a representative...
With the U.S. military and State Department presence, Iraq has the opportunity to create a representative government supporting the ideals of freedom and democracy. Over watch is provided in a region historically known for dictator and monarchy...
In the past three decades, one country has stood out more than any other in opposing the United States' efforts in the Middle East: Iran. To counter Iranian influences in the Middle East, the United States has adopted a stance of containment...
In 1979 the age old struggle for the control of Islam between the Shiite and Sunni sects re-emerged in the Middle East. Four events occurred in 1979 that defined the context of contemporary Middle Eastern politics: the Islamic revolution in Iran,...
The interaction between politics and military professionalism is a delicate balancing act in war. When the politics involves a revolutionary ideology, military professionalism can be subordinated to the point of hurting the war effort. The Iranian...
TRANSCRIPT: General Petraeus on the way ahead in Iraq. General David H. Petraeus, U.S. Army; "Hard but not hopeless": The new commander of Multi-National Forces-Iraq assesses the war and previews the way ahead.
Cause for hope: economic revitalization in Iraq. Paul Brinkley, Deputy under Secretary of Defense for Business Transformation; An interagency initiative, the Task Force for Business and Stabilization Operations is helping to quell insurgent...
The United States has significantly increased the deployment of missile defense systems, specifically Patriot and Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (Aegis-BMD), to the Persian Gulf over the past six years. The increase from no missile defense assets...
The present state of tension between the United States and Iran signifies a failure of current and past diplomatic approaches to influence Iran. Curiously, the Islamic Revolution and the Iranian elections over the last decade indicate that support...