The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the State of Iran (Hardcover)

by Yossi Melman (Author), Meir Javedanfar (Author) "ON OCTOBER 28, 1956, Seyyede Khanom Saborjhian gave birth to her fourth child, a boy named Mahmoud, during a difficult time for the Saborjhian household..." (more)
Key Phrases: pilot fuel enrichment plant, physics research center, uranium enrichment program, United States, Imam Hussein, Saddam Hussein (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Inspired by hate and surrounded by fundamentalist leaders in a country that may soon possess nuclear weapons, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad poses the most serious threat to world peace, even while he shrewdly manipulates public opinion at home. Until now, Americans have known little about him. Since his election in June 2005, Ahmadinejad has accelerated his country's nuclear research; called for the elimination of Israel; and failed the Iranian people, who elected him on a since-neglected domestic platform. In this first book about him, we see the forces that are bringing the world to the brink of another war in the Middle East. Written by an Iranian-born insider and a world-renowned intelligence expert, it offers the first full portrait of this former mayor of Tehran whose rural roots and vituperative populism catapulted him from obscurity to national leadership.

About the Author

Meir Javedanfar is a Middle East Analyst who specialises in Iranian affairs. Born and educated in Iran until eight years after the revolution, he has extensive contacts in Iran and in Iranian diplomatic communities around the world. He is regularly consulted for analysis of events in Iran by such media outlets as the BBC, Sky News, the CBC, RAI Italia, ABC Australia, Voice of America, the Boston Globe and Ha’aretz newspaper. A member of Gulf 2000 Project, which is run by the School of International and Public Affairs of Columbia University in New York City and staffed by internationally renowned experts in Persian Gulf states, Meir Javedanfar is the Director of the Middle East Economic and Political Analysis Company (meepas) which has large number of subscribers from Iran and from the Iranian Diaspora.

Yossi Melman is an investigative journalist with Ha’aretz, Israel’s most authoritative newspaper. He is regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities on Israel’s intelligence operations. His previous book, Every Spy a Prince, co-authored with Dan Raviv, was on the New York Times best seller list for fifteen weeks. He is the author of six other books on terrorism and covert diplomacy and publishes articles in major international newspapers such as the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and The Guardian.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (March 21, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786718870
• ISBN-13: 978-0786718870
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #653,687 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative and Worth Reading, Needs Editing, June 23, 2007

By	Kirk H Sowell (Washington D.C.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is an informative book which is worth reading, although the cover and title are a bit misleading and the book needs editing before the next publishing, as I assume the publisher has noticed. The front cover gives the impression that it is somehow a biography of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with an emphasis on his role in Iran's nuclear and foreign policies. Actually, it is more like two short books on different but related topics attached to one another. The first third of the book is a pre-election biography of Ahmadinejad, and the remainder is a description of Iran's nuclear program with some analysis of how to deal with it. Ahmadinejad is barely mentioned after page 72. It was like they wanted to write two books, but wanted to rush this while it was timely, so decided to cut material and combine them into one. (Most of the book will be of purely academic interest if we bomb Iran.)

One of the authors is a Israeli expert on Israeli intelligence who writes for Haaretz. The other is an Iran expert of Iranian origin (not Arab, as one of the other reviewers suggests).

The first four chapters dealing with Ahmadinejad's life are certainly good reading, as they include facts not widely known which bear on his performance as president of Iran. Ahmadinejad comes from a rural background, and through the sacrifices of his parents, he was able to attend school and become an engineer. He eventually obtained a PhD in traffic planning (don't laugh, traffic is a huge issue in Iran, especially in Tehran). His religious development included an association with the Hojjatieh society, a messianic movement within Shia Islam which is obsessed with the Mahdi and the apocalypse.

Most importantly, Ahmadinejad came under the influence of Ayatallah Muhammad Yazdi and his followers. Yazdi is the most prominent of the messianic Shia clerics, and he believes that while Muslims cannot force the return of the Mahdi and the end of the world, they can "strive to hasten it," as the authors put it. (In Islam, the Mahdi is a messianic figure, but not Jesus himself, as Jesus is believed to return after the Mahdi. Apocalyptic thinking is less prominent in Islam than Judaism or Christianity generally, but actually quite important in Shia Islam.)

The remainder of the book focuses on the twists and turns of the Iranian nuclear saga, in which ruse after lie after deception has been exposed as IAEA investigators, opposition groups and Western intelligence agencies have pressured Iran on its "peaceful" nuclear program. The authors do an excellent job at narrating this history, although little of it - other than perhaps a few comments about Mossad's role - is likely to be new to readers already familiar with the issue.

The book does need some serious editing, however. Numerous less than artful phrases remind the reader that neither of the authors is a native speaker of English. There are some punctuation errors, and a good number of sentences which would have benefited from a well-placed comma. There are also a few rather obvious grammatical errors (e.g. the first paragraph on page 195 contains the sequence "'At present, Iranian air defense appears nontrivial, but certainly not incredibly potent.' said a research study by MIT." The same paragraph suggests that bombing Iran's reactors "won't be an easy assignment... because Iran has protected them with anti-aircraft missiles that are not very advanced.").

There are also a few factual statements which I don't think are quite right. At one point, they write that the U.S. claimed Iraq had nuclear weapons (p. 111); actually, U.S. intelligence estimated that Iraq had an advanced nuclear program, not actual nuclear weapons. The U.S. was wrong on that, but the authors get the mistake wrong. I have, however, read a fair amount on Iran's nuclear program, and everything on that issue seems in order.

I recommend the book with the qualifications listed above.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting information about Iran, April 27, 2007

By	N. Bohn - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm an open minded person and will not come to a conclusion without looking from all sides of a situation. This book gives a pretty good insight into how Iran evolved to what it is today. You have plenty of references to draw from and shouldn't conclude that it's onesided since the writers are Jewish and Arab. It really makes you think and fills in the gap with information on why Iran's president is the way he is. The media makes it hard to get an understanding on this guy, but this book has given a lot of insight on how he could be. I give it 5 stars because of the well documented references so you can trace why the authors came to their conclusions.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, August 15, 2007

By	Eduardo Missri (Israel) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is very well done, the research conducted, the sources and the people involved in this book are great. The author has done an excellent job in portraying Iran and the threat that it represents to the western world. Its a great book if you want to get good insights and new information on Iran and the threat it posses.