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Ali
Ansari

Senior Associate Fellow

Ali Ansari is professor of Iranian History and director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews; Senior Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute; and president of the British Institute for Persian Studies.

He has authored several books including: The Politics of Nationalism in Modern Iran (CUP, 2012) Crisis of Authority: Iran's 2009 Presidential Election (Chatham House, 2010), Iran Under Ahmadinejad (Adelphi Paper, IISS, January 2008), Confronting Iran:The Failure of US Policy and the Roots of Mistrust (Hurst, London, 2006), Modern Iran since 1921: the Pahlavis and After (2nd Edition, Longman, London, 2007), Iran, Islam & Democracy - The Politics of Managing Change (2nd Edition, RIIA, London, 2006).

He is also editor of the Cambridge History of Iran Vol 8 (The Islamic Republic).

Contact Details

Research Focus

Iran, History, Middle East and North Africa Iran

By This Author

President Hassan Rouhani. Image courtesy of www.kremlin.ru.

Understanding Iran's Role in the Syrian Conflict

1 August 2016

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of Iran's role in the Syrian conflict, drawing on the perspective of major regional state and...

Tags: RUSI International, Iran, Occasional Papers, International Security Studies, Counterinsurgency, Syria, Global Security Issues, Middle East and North Africa

A Tale of Two Cities: Ben Rhodes and the Selling of the Iran Nuclear Agreement

10 June 2016

Political ‘spin’ is part of any negotiation process, including in discussions on the Iran Nuclear Agreement. While it can sometimes be...

Tags: Iran's Nuclear Programme, United States, Iran, International Security Studies, Sanctions, Proliferation and Nuclear Policy

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani casting his vote in Tehran, 26 February 2016. Photo Iranian Presidency

The Political Spectacle of Iranian Elections

4 March 2016

A coalition of Reformist/Moderate candidates made strong gains in Iran’s recent parliamentary election even though the political landscape...

Tags: Iran

Embedded thumbnail for Assessing the Iran Deal

Assessing the Iran Deal

25 January 2016

Professor Ali Ansari, Senior Associate Fellow at RUSI discusses with Dr Gary Samore, former Nuclear negotiator with the Obama...

Tags: Iran's Nuclear Programme, United States, Iran, Proliferation and Nuclear Policy, Global Security Issues, Proliferation and Nuclear Policy

The End of the Beginning? The July 2015 Iranian Nuclear Deal

21 August 2015

The July 2015 Vienna deal revealed the domestic political dynamics that framed Iran’s room for manoeuvre in the negotiations

Tags: Iran's Nuclear Programme, RUSI Journal, Iran, UK Project on Nuclear Issues, Proliferation and Nuclear Policy, Global Security Issues, Proliferation and Nuclear Policy, Middle East and North Africa

The Iranian Nuclear Negotiations: Not a Done Deal

1 May 2015

Divergent narratives on the preliminary framework agreement reached in Lausanne should temper the enthusiasm that greeted it in the West

Tags: Newsbrief, Global Security Issues

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