Iran's Nuclear Program: Debating Facts Versus Fiction (Paperback)

~ Kaveh L. Afrasiabi PhD (Author)
Key Phrases: nuclear rights, peaceful nuclear program, nuclear talks, Security Council, United States, Additional Protocol (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This book, written by a leading expert on Iran's foreign and nuclear affairs, provides a fresh and insightful perspective on Iran's nuclear program. Based on in-depth interviews with the key nuclear decision-makers in Iran, Europe, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the book is a welcome addition that sheds new light on the present international crisis over Iran's nuclear program. In a lucidly-written narrative intended for both general readers as well as academics and policy-makers, the book covers the history of Iran's nuclear program, the Iran-Europe negotiations, the IAEA reports and other similar reports, the media's coverage, and the prospects for a successful resolution of the nuclear standoff with Iran. Afrasiabi presents a compelling case for non-proliferation in Iran and the Middle East, drawing on his first-hand knowledge of the region. The book has been divided into 20 chapters and has an appendix that documents Iran's nuclear standpoint.

About the Author

Kaveh L. Afrasiabi has a Ph.D. in political science and specializes in Iran’s foreign and nuclear affairs. Afrasiabi has taught at Tehran University and Boston University, and has done research at Harvard University, University of California at Berkeley, and the Center For Strategic Research, a think tank in Tehran. Afrasiabi has been a consultant to the United Nations’ Program on Dialogue Among Civilizations as well as to CBS’ Television. Afrasiabi has published several books, book chapters, and numerous articles in prestigious journals and newspapers, including: After Khomeini: New Directions in Iran’s Foreign Policy (Westview), Islam and Ecology (Harvard University Press), and articles in UN Chronicle, Middle East Journal, Harvard Theological Review, Brown’s Journal of World Affairs, Telos, Mediterannean Affairs, New York Times, International Herald Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, Asia Times, Der Tagesspiegel, etc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (March 8, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1419630393
• ISBN-13: 978-1419630392
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,196,593 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Inaccurate , June 18, 2007

By	Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

I have tried to as preliminary to this review read as many of Mr.Afrasiabi 's articles as I could. I wished to understand his background and overall world- view as preliminary to understanding his view on the Iranian nuclear-program.
Unfortunately I discovered inaccuracies in his articles especially in regard to the area which I have a certain knowledge of i.e. Israel. Mr Afrasiabi in one article makes the absurd claim that Israel's aim in responding to the Hizbollah provocations and kidnapping of its soldiers in summer 2006 was taking more and more territory. This is so absurd, so contrary to any idea any politician in Israel even of the extreme right had, that I am convinced that Mr.Afrasiabi is the kind of ideologue whose prejudice destroys the value of any analysis he makes.
I very much side with Mr. Afrasiabi in his view that it would be wise for Iran not to attain nuclear weapons. But I am not sure why exactly he is making this case. It occurs to me that he may be doing so as part of an effort to show the West that Iran has no real intention of having nuclear weapons. That is of course patently false, as the acquistion of nuclear weapons is a major goal of the Ahmadinejad- Khatami regime in Tehran.
Iranian leaders feel surrounded and threatened by nuclear powers, Russia, Pakistan, the United States in Iraq. They believe that nuclear weapons will give them a strategic tool in their struggle with Saudi Arabia for hegemony not only over Gulf Oil, but control over Islam's holy places. They above all believe that nuclear weapons will give them a power and respect throughout the world of a kind they have not had before. It is wise to remember that it is not only the Islamists who felt this way, but that the Shah believed this also. And that the only real point of policy in which the masses support the regime of the Ayatollahs is on attaining nuclear weapons.
Thus Afrasiabi's saying that Iran does not really need nuclear weapons, and that they will be a detriment to it as they will cause a regional nuclear arms- race must be understood as his own personal argument, and not one held by those in power in Tehran. Therefore his idea that Iran has no real reason to seek nuclear- weapons is simply an inaccurate reading of true Iranian opinion and feeling.
Whether this is done to throw the West off the track of resistance to Iranian nuclear-weapons development or not , it does not accurately read Iranian government goals and intentions.
The IAEA's failures in reading these goals are now a clear part of the historical record. The ridiculous awarding of Mohammed Baradei the Nobel Prize when he did not do his job properly is in one sense simply a curiosity. But in another it is a major failure which may be one critical step in the world's number one terror state attaining the nuclear weapons with which it sows the world's next disaster.

17 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Iran's Nuclear Program: : Debating Facts Versus Fiction, April 28, 2006

By	Hambastegi - See all my reviews

This book is written by Kaveh L. Afrasiabi, an advisor of past president of Islamic Republic, MULLAH Khatami. It provides interviews with the past key nuclear decision-makers in Islamic Republic, Europe, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).The history of Iran's nuclear program is old and goes back to Pahlavi Dynasty, which could be completed by now. Afrasiabi presents a marketing case for the current so-called Islamic Regime in Iran , drawing on his first-hand knowledge of the system. Thanks.