About the event:

Since the 1979 Revolution, Iran has deeply impacted the Middle East and beyond. With an increasingly active and interventionist foreign policy, particularly after the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear agreement in 2018, the regime has waged proxy wars across the region; threatened global oil supplies in the Persian Gulf; pursued a highly developed nuclear program; and greatly strengthened ties with U.S. rivals China and Russia.

To outsiders, threatening Israel with annihilation or years of costly battles in Syria, Yemen and Iraq may appear to be unnecessarily damaging and isolating actions. But for Iran, these policies are part of grand designs for the broader Middle East and are often pursued with domestic considerations. Proclaiming and defining itself as the global protector of the Shia faith, Ayatollah Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards have brought regional allies into an “axis of resistance”  against the United States and its regional allies.

Renowned Iran scholar, Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar will discuss the calculations behind Tehran’s often provocative foreign policy, along with the regime’s willingness to accept international pariah status, if it is necessary to achieve greater goals. He will also address how Iran’s nuclear program has advanced since the U.S. withdrawal from the agreement in 2018, and what are the realistic chances of a second nuclear deal. Lastly, Tabaar will assess the outlook for moderate voices in the nation, and how the Ukraine War may impact Iran’s energy sector and its ever-evolving role in the world.

About the speaker:

Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar, Ph.D., is a Fellow for the Middle East at the Baker Institute at Rice University and Associate Professor at the Bush School at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on U.S.-Iran relations and the politics of religion.

Tabaar is currently working on two research projects: nuclear statecraft in hybrid regimes, and Marxist armed organizations in Iran. He teaches courses on U.S. foreign policy in the Persian Gulf, religion and politics in Iran, and Middle East politics. He is the recipient of the 2019 Faculty Excellence Award from Texas A&M University.

He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses at Georgetown University and George Washington University. Tabaar has been a visiting scholar at George Washington, Cambridge, Harvard and Columbia universities. He is the author of ‘Religious Statecraft: The Politics of Islam in Iran’.

Tabaar received his Ph.D. in comparative politics and international relations from Georgetown University, an M.A. in international relations from the University of Chicago, an M.A. in sociology from the New School for Social Research in New York City, and a B.A. in social sciences from the University of Tehran.