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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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Iran's Grand Strategy summary
Vali Nasr
A Political History
21 mins
Brief summary
Iran's Grand Strategy delves into the geopolitical ambitions and strategic maneuvers of Iran in the Middle East. Vali Nasr highlights the nation's regional influence and the interplay of ideological, economic, and military elements in shaping its policies.
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Iran's Grand Strategy
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Unique and alone
To understand the driving forces of modern Iran, we need to understand how Iran sees itself. In that regard, there are two qualities that have come to define Iran’s sense of self: it is both unique and alone.
It is unique because it is the only Persian Shia state in a region dominated by Arab and Turkic Sunni powers. This also ties into why Iran feels alone in the world, but its sense of grandeur and vulnerability goes back to the Safavid dynasty, which lasted from around 1501 to 1722. During this period, a distinctly Persian Shia identity emerged, designed to differentiate Iran from the Sunni Ottoman Empire to the west and the Mughal Empire to the east. Safavid kings enforced Shiism as the state religion and for a while they achieved imperial power, but their subsequent fall in the eighteenth century ushered in a long era of instability and foreign meddling.
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Iran faced two different empirical, east-west threats: Russian expansion on the one side and British ambitions on the other. Iran survived in part because these two forces could not agree on how to divide it, allowing Tehran to play them against each other.
During this time, Iran learned some hard lessons. If it was going to survive and remain sovereign, it needed to create a stronger state. So, in 1906 came the Constitutional Revolution, led by an unlikely coalition of merchants, intellectuals, and clerics. They created the region’s first constitution with an aim to limit monarchy, establish rule of law, and safeguard independence. But a constitution alone isn’t enough. A strong state also needs secure borders and the means with which to impose law and order and push forward development.
Hope came following the chaos brought on by World War I. In 1921, military officer Reza Khan seized power, expelled foreign troops, and crushed internal rebellions. Urged by clerics to restore the monarchy, he became Reza Shah Pahlavi. His reign brought back a sense of territorial integrity, centralized authority, and launched modernization – but also veered into autocracy.
Reza Shah’s reign was cut short by the onset of World War II, which once again turned Iran into a battleground for global powers. The war devastated Iran’s economy and sovereignty as Britain and the Soviet Union invaded, exiled Reza Shah, and installed his son, Mohammad Reza Shah.
During the ensuing Cold War, when the rivalry erupted between Britain and Russia, the Shah leaned toward Britain. While the Soviet influence wasn’t entirely gone, this move provided some stability and security. But as we’ll see in the next section, neither side had answers for Iran’s problems. Neither the communism of the East nor the liberalism of the West suited the leadership of Iran. It seemed they were alone in trying to find the right balance of security, strength, cultural preservation, and development.
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What is Iran's Grand Strategy about?
Iran’s Grand Strategy (2025) takes you inside the mindset of Tehran’s leaders, revealing how decades of calculated resistance have reshaped the Middle East. Drawing on history, geopolitics, and behind-the-scenes insights, it shows how Iran’s mix of proxy warfare and regional alliances have become an effective plan for power. This is the story of how one nation’s determination to outlast its rivals is redefining the balance of power in one of the world’s most volatile regions.
Who should read Iran's Grand Strategy?
- Students of Middle Eastern politics and history
- Activists and human rights advocates interested in Iran’s social and political dynamics
- Anyone who wants to understand Iran’s role and strategy in global politics
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