Join us to learn about the evolution of Iran's nuclear strategy in the broader context of its relationship with the United StatesAbout this Event
Iran's nuclear program remains one of the most contentious issues of modern international politics. This book is the first to trace the evolution of Iran's nuclear strategy (program) in the broader context of its relationship with the United States, from the early days of total US support in the 1950s to the staunch opposition that followed the Iranian revolution, and its reconstitution.
The account covers the pivotal moments including initial meetings to pursue uranium enrichment in Iran, key internal debates, the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Donald Trump's controversial withdrawal and the latest efforts to revive the agreement. The book shows that because the strategic logic of the nuclear program transcends the regimes type, dismantling the Iranian nuclear program is not viable policy option for the United States. Instead, the US must learn to live with a nuclear threshold state and make it a priority to keep Iranian capacity as far away from the bomb as possible.
The research is based on American declassified documents and often marginalized Iranian primary sources including political memoirs, diplomatic correspondences, oral histories from Iranian nuclear officials and exclusive one-on-one interviews with Iranian scientists and national security officials. The account and its findings have important implications for both scholars of nuclear non-proliferation and for policymakers.
Dr. Sina Azodi is joining us on the Busboys stage alongside award-winning journalist and commentator Negar Mortazavi to share more about this “lucid, informed history of Iran's nuclear program, using Iranian and American sources to clarify the strategic logic and the intense domestic disputes behind it” (Professor Mohsen Milani, author of Iran's Rise and Rivalry with the United States in the Middle East). Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Dr. Azodi will be signing following the program.
This event is free and open to all. Doors open to guests at 5:30pm. Our program begins at 6:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of IRAN AND THE BOMB will be available for purchase before and during the event. Please note that this event is in person.
We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books
Sina Azodi is Assistant Professor of Middle East Politics and Director of the Middle East Studies MA Program at George Washington University. The author of a new book, “Iran and the Bomb: the United States, Iran and the Nuclear Question,” Dr. Azodi’s research interests include international security, nuclear nonproliferation, Iranian politics and U.S.-Iran relations. A frequent commentator on both English- and Persian-speaking media, his analyses have appeared in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Arms Control Association, the Stimson Center, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Foreign Policy, and he has been quoted by the New York Times, Washington Post, Spiegel, and Forbes. He earned his BA and MA in international affairs from the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University, and his PhD from University of South Florida.
Negar Mortazavi is an award-winning journalist and commentator, editor and host of the Iran Podcast, and a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy (CIP), and a nonresident scholar at the Middle East policy council, based in Washington DC. She has been covering Iranian affairs as well as US foreign policy towards the Middle East for over a decade.
BOOK DETAILS
Iran and the Bomb
The United States, Iran, and the Nuclear Question
By Sina Azodi
June 11, 2026 | Paperback, 280 pages, $29.95
Event Venue
Busboys and Poets 14th & V, 2021 14th St NW, Washington, United States
USD 0.00
