Middle Eastern geopolitics has long been a focal point of great-power competition, regional rivalries, and strategic intervention, with the antagonistic relationship between the United States and Iran remaining one of its defining features. It is within this enduring geopolitical contest that Mohsen M. Milani's _Iran's Rise and Rivalry with the US in the Middle East_ tries to explain how a heavily sanctioned and diplomatically isolated Iran has nevertheless emerged as a consequential regional actor. Milani’s central thesis is that the enduring cold war between Washington and Tehran is primarily driven by a clash of geopolitical interests. It is the struggle of an aspiring regional power seeking to revise the status quo against the global hegemon committed to preserving it, rather than purely ideological or religious animosity.
Structurally, the book is organized in a thematic, and chronological way comprising an Introduction, eight substantive chapters, and a Conclusion. Drawing on a rich trove of declassified CIA documents, Persian-language archives, and dozens of personal interviews with key diplomats and commanders, including former Iranian Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan, former US Ambassador Ryan Crocker, and retired General Kenneth McKenzie, Milani provides a thoroughly researched account of Iran's foreign policy. His use of these diverse sources bridges the gap between historical continuity and contemporary regional security.
Chapters 1 and 2 establish the historical and institutional foundations of modern Iranian foreign policy. In Chapter 1, Milani examines the roots of anti-Americanism by tracing them back to the trauma of the 1953 CIA-MI6 coup against the nationalist Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. This intervention saved the Peacock Throne but permanently tainted the United States as an imperial actor in the minds of Iranian nationalists and leftists. In Chapter 2, Milani details how the 1979 Tehran hostage crisis institutionalised anti-Americanism as a constitutional pillar, leading to the construction of a dual-power structure in Iran.
Chapter 3 explores the crucible of the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988), which Milani identifies as the military cornerstone of Iran’s modern rise. Faced with a Western-supported Iraqi invasion and a stringent US arms embargo, Iran was forced to survive through asymmetric innovations. Out of this existential struggle, the IRGC matured from an undisciplined volunteer militia into a highly proficient hybrid fighting force. Crucially, Iran began establishing its first regional Shia networks and laying the foundation for a self-sufficient domestic military-industrial complex specializing in reverse-engineered missile technology.
Chapter 4 turns to the geostrategic pivot of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, which Milani terms “America's unintended strategic gift to Iran”. By toppling Saddam Hussein who was Tehran's most formidable regional counterweight, the United States opened a power vacuum that Iran was uniquely positioned to exploit. Through a dual-track policy of supporting state-building on one hand and sponsoring anti-US Shia militias on the other, Tehran cultivated a friendly, Shia-dominated government in Baghdad which effectively transformed its former arch-enemy into a strategic ally.
Chapters 5 and 6 analyse Iran’s strategic depth in the Levant. In Chapter 5, Milani focuses on Lebanon, explaining how Iran shaped Hezbollah as a premier asymmetric asset and deterrent against Israel. Milani traces this relationship from its pre-revolutionary origins through the 2006 war by showing how Hezbollah transitioned from a localized guerrilla group into a global “hybrid” force capable of establishing a delicate deterrence dynamic with Israel. In Chapter 6, Milani examines Iran's enduring alliance with Syria. During the Syrian civil war, the Quds Force intervened extensively to rescue Bashar al-Assad's regime by coordinating a multinational Shia force and forming a tactical military alliance with Russia to preserve Iran’s vital land bridge to Lebanon.
Chapters 7 and 8 examines the expansion of Iran's “Axis of Resistance” into the Arabian Peninsula and the Palestinian territories. Chapter 7 explains Iran's low-cost, high-yield policy in Yemen, where Tehran forged an alliance with the Houthi movement (Ansar Allah) during the Civil War. Operating in the “grey zone,” Iran provided the Houthis with advanced drone and missile technology – turning Yemen into a strategic quagmire for its chief regional rival, Saudi Arabia, and gaining leverage over the vital Bab el-Mandeb shipping lanes. Chapter 8 discusses Iran's evolving relations with Sunni militant groups, Hamas and the Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Guided by the late Qasem Soleimani, Iran overcame sectarian divides by funding and arming these Palestinian factions, seeking to surround Israel and establish forward deterrence.
Milani’s monograph is highly commendable for its empirical depth and methodological accuracy. Rather than portraying Iran as a monolith of fanatical expansionism, the author depicts a rational, calculating actor operating on a cost-benefit basis, albeit one whose ideological preferences occasionally override its long-term national interests. Milani’s extensive interviews with primary actors who are ranging from revolutionary figures like Mehdi Bazargan to US commanders like General Kenneth McKenzie enriches the narrative, providing rare insider insights into decision-making in both Tehran and Washington.
In neoclassical realist terms, the volume’s concluding chapter highlights the profound structural contradictions that now threaten the sustainability of Iran's regional hegemony. Milani convincingly argues that while Tehran has successfully projected power abroad, it has failed to translate these military gains into robust, mutually beneficial economic partnerships. Except for Iraq, Iran's trade with its Levant and Yemen allies remains economically negligible, further draining an economy already suffocated by systemic corruption and Western sanctions.
Milani's analysis is assured and persuasive. Conceptually, the overarching framework of “Iran’s Rise” occasionally risks overshadowing the distinct, local agency of the groups Iran supports. However, Milani explicitly warns the reader not to see groups like the Houthis in Yemen or Hamas in Gaza as mere “proxies” without agency by rightly pointing out their local roots and autonomy.
Ultimately, Milani’s most vital insight is that “all foreign policy is local”. The sustainability of the Islamic Republic's regional rise is fundamentally jeopardized by its deep internal vulnerability. Milani illustrates how the government’s repressive social policies, economic mismanagement, and the exclusion of its highly educated, restless youth have caused a dangerous chasm between the ruling elite and civil society. This internal alienation has manifested in periodic uprisings, from the 2009 Green Movement, where protesters explicitly rejected Iran’s costly foreign interventions, to the historic 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests. Milani concludes with a powerful warning that, if the ruling elite fails to address these compounding domestic crises, its hard-won regional rise may be reduced to a transient footnote in Persia’s long imperial history by leaving the state strong abroad but critically fragile at home. Written in elegant, academically rigorous prose, _Iran’s Rise and Rivalry with the US in the Middle East_ is an indispensable text for scholars seeking to move beyond polemics and understand the complex geostrategic mechanics of the modern Middle East.
_Rahana Sherin K V is a PhD Scholar at MMAJ Academy of International Studies in Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi._