Iran at a Crossroads with Dr. Vali Nasr

This event is being held in-person. Registration is now closed. Pre-registration is required to attend the event and walk-in registration will not be accepted.

Since the 1979 Revolution, Iran has remained one of the most complex and consequential foreign policy challenges facing the United States. Military strikes by the U.S. and Israel have brought renewed urgency to understanding Iran’s strategic posture as the conflict continues to impact regional security, global commerce, and international alliances.

Join Global Minnesota for a conversation with Dr. Vali Nasr, a leading authority on Iran and the Middle East. Drawing on lessons from his new book Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political History, Dr. Nasr will explore the political evolution of the Islamic Republic and examine how its internal dynamics, regional ambitions, and strategic calculations may shape the course of current conflicts and security around the world. Dr. Nasr will be joined in conversation with Arshad Mohammed, Senior Fellow at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs.

Copies of Dr. Nasr’s book will be available for purchase and signing at the event.

Thank you to the Humphrey School of Public Affairs for their help with this event.

Global Minnesota members receive discounted admission. Members are welcome to bring a guest at the member rate.

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About the Speaker: Dr. Vali Nasr

Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and Non-Resident Senior Advisor in the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He served as the eighth Dean of Johns Hopkins SAIS between 2012 and 2019 and served as Senior Advisor to U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke between 2009 and 2011.

He has advised senior American policymakers, world leaders, and businesses, including the President, Secretary of State, senior members of Congress, and presidential campaigns. He has written for New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, among others.

Professor Nasr serves as the co-director of the SAIS Rethinking Iran Initiative at Johns Hopkins University, the leading hub for fostering a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of contemporary Iran and its regional influence within academia and the public sphere. He is a member of the International Board of Advisors of the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University, the International Board of Advisors at the American University of Beirut, the Global Board of Trustees of Asia Society, and he is on the Board of Advisors of Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. He has been the recipient of grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council, and was named a 2006 Carnegie Scholar, and held the 2024-25 Henry Alfred Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations at The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress.

He received his B.A. from Tufts University in International Relations summa cum laude and was initiated into Phi Beta Kappa in 1983. He earned his Master’s from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in international economics and Middle East studies in 1984, and his Ph.D. from MIT in political science in 1991.

Moderator: Arshad Mohammed

Arshad Mohammed is a senior fellow in the global policy area. Before joining Humphrey, he spent 35 years as a reporter for Reuters, serving as a correspondent in New York, Paris, Algiers, and Washington, DC, where he covered the White House and State Department and served as diplomatic correspondent.

He was in the classroom on 9/11 when then-President George W. Bush learned of the second plane to hit the World Trade Center; at the United Nations when former Secretary of State Colin Powell presented the report that led America into war in Iraq in 2003; and in Vienna when the Iran nuclear deal was struck in 2015.

Please contact Addy Cross at [email protected] for questions or accessibility accommodations.