One of the lasting outcomes of the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 is the rising regional influence of Iran across the Middle East, which has been amplified by the dynamics of the region in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. Since then,there are many academic and journalistic attempts to explain and understand Iran’s policies towards the region. Tabatabai’s No Conquest, No Defeat: Iran’s National Security Strategy is an attempt to explain Iran’s foreign and security policies, particularly towards the Middle East, by putting them into a historical and cultural context. A frequent contributor to the leading US think tanks and recently appointed as a senior advisor position at the US Department of State, Tabatabai considered her study to ‘sit at the intersection’ of Iran’s military history and its politics.
NO CONQUEST, NO DEFEAT: IRAN’S NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY