{"id":51699,"date":"2026-03-03T22:01:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T22:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=51699"},"modified":"2026-03-03T22:01:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T22:01:26","slug":"afshin-matin-asgari-axis-of-empire-a-history-of-iran-us-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=51699","title":{"rendered":"Afshin Matin-Asgari, \u201eAxis of Empire: A History of Iran\u2013US Relations\u201c"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>A chronicle of intrigue and influence in the Iran-US entanglement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Ironic plot twists and colorful characters abound in Afshin Matin-Asgari\u2019s accessible history of relations between the United States and Iran. The missionaries and educators who descended on Iran in the early nineteenth century made way for the next century\u2019s oilmen, CIA agents, scholars, and arms dealers in the assertion of US imperial priorities. Whether Iran resisted or succumbed to US interests, it couldn\u2019t fail to be shaped by the superpower.<br><br>Matin-Asgari offers fresh takes on familiar topics: America\u2019s rise as a Middle East hegemon during the Cold War; the special relationship between Washington and the shah; the Iranian Revolution and hostage crisis; the Iran-Iraq war; the Islamic Republic\u2019s peculiar anti-imperialism; the decades of onerous American sanctions; Israel\u2019s intervention in Iran-US relations; the ascendance of Trump; and the 2025 attempt by the United States and Israel to bring regime change to Tehran.<br><br>A labyrinthine tale of American imperial misadven\u00adtures, <em>Axis of Empire<\/em> incorporates and challenges scholarly narratives while offering a sophisticated yet highly readable account of Iran-US history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reviews<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In a time when Iran is so often reduced to caricature or demonised, Afshin Matin-Asgari has stepped into the breach to provide a highly nuanced and sophisticated account of US\u2013Iranian relations. <em>Axis of Empire<\/em> deftly traces two centuries of encounters between Iranians and Americans, weaving together statecraft, culture, and everyday lives in a narrative that is both sweeping and deeply human. The result is a lucid and compelling history that challenges received wisdom and illuminates the complex entanglements of imperial power and resistance. This book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the troubled but consequential relationship between the United States and Iran.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Eskandar Sadeghi, School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>After decades of learned scholarship, Afshin Matin-Asgari&#8217;s <em>Axis of Empire<\/em> finally gives the story of US-Iran relations a bold and precise account of imperial and colonial underpinnings it badly needed. Uniquely positioned to tell this story, Matin-Asgari restores the authority and confidence of a solid critical perspective on a fraught relationship today befuddled by a mudslide of reactionary commotions. This one solid volume saves you from unending miles of useless thunder noise on your newsfeed abusively misinformed by tons of flawed and reactionary Newspeak.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Hamid Dabashi, author of Iran: A People Interrupted<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Matin-Asgari sheds light on the US role in undermining the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Arron Reza Merat,&nbsp; Jacobin<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A potent antidote to the delusional fantasies that the US will bring peace, prosperity and freedom to Iranians.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Middle East Eye<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>304 pages \/ January 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-link is-provider-ugradnja wp-block-embed-ugradnja\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.versobooks.com\/products\/2694-a-history-of-iran-us-relations\">Axis of Empire<\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knjige","category-novosti"],"acf":{"facebook_opis":""},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Empire-US.webp?fit=343%2C650&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":52531,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=52531","url_meta":{"origin":51699,"position":0},"title":"Jonathan G. Leslie, \u201eFear and Insecurity: Israel and the Iran Threat Narrative\u201c","author":"Branimir Jankovi\u0107","date":"17. travnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"Why is Israel\u2019s former ally Iran now perceived as the country\u2019s greatest threat? Description To observers of the Iran-Israel conflict, its vitriolic rhetoric might suggest an ancient hatred between Jews and Muslims\u2013a biblical feud dating back hundreds, or thousands, of years. But this rivalry is a far more modern development.\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Knjige&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Knjige","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Leslie.jpg?fit=391%2C612&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":52536,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=52536","url_meta":{"origin":51699,"position":1},"title":"Kader Abdolah, \u201ePrije nego \u0161to bude kasno\u201c","author":"Branimir Jankovi\u0107","date":"20. travnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"Kader Abdolah \u017eeli se vratiti ku\u0107i. Ali povratak je nemogu\u0107: u Iranu bi bio uhap\u0161en. Pod la\u017enim imenom i s krivotvorenim paso\u0161em ipak uspijeva u\u0107i u domovinu i sti\u017ee do roditeljske ku\u0107e, visoko u planinama. Majka ga ne prepoznaje, otac je mrtav, a sve \u0161to je tra\u017eio izmi\u010de mu pred\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Novosti&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Novosti","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Prije-nego-sto-bude-kasno.webp?fit=566%2C872&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Prije-nego-sto-bude-kasno.webp?fit=566%2C872&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Prije-nego-sto-bude-kasno.webp?fit=566%2C872&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52688,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=52688","url_meta":{"origin":51699,"position":2},"title":"Eleonora Naxidou and Yura Konstantinova \u201eBalkan Perspectives of Europe: Between East and West\u201c","author":"Filip \u0160imunjak","date":"28. travnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"Through the lens of the Balkan nations, this volume makes a valuable and significant contribution to the fields of European and Southeast European studies by reconsidering the East\/West dichotomy \u2013 both in terms of the Orient\u2013Occident divide and the Eastern\u2013Western Europe binary. Balkan Perspectives of Europe focuses on concepts of\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Knjige&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Knjige","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Balkan-Perspectives-of-Europe-Between-East-and-West.jpg?fit=350%2C525&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":53394,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=53394","url_meta":{"origin":51699,"position":3},"title":"Enzo Traverso, &#8220;Singular Pasts: The &#8220;I&#8221; in Historiography&#8221;","author":"Branimir Jankovi\u0107","date":"15. svibnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"Translated by Adam Schoene Columbia University Press Pub Date: November 2022 Today, history is increasingly written in the first person. A growing number of historical works include an autobiographical dimension, as if writing about the past required exploring the inner life of the author. Neither traditional history nor autobiography, this\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Knjige&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Knjige","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Traverso.avif","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":53802,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=53802","url_meta":{"origin":51699,"position":4},"title":"&#8220;Disability and War in the Late Middle Ages: Becoming, Surviving, Managing&#8221;, eds. N. Dubourg, C. Masson","author":"Filip \u0160imunjak","date":"4. lipnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"Issues relating to disability and war remain largely overlooked by military and disability historians. This exclusion is all the more striking since there was hardly a more likely place for receiving permanent injury than a battle, and we can barely imagine a worse place for disabled people than a battlefield.\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Knjige&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Knjige","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Disability-Medieval-ages.webp?fit=596%2C894&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Disability-Medieval-ages.webp?fit=596%2C894&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Disability-Medieval-ages.webp?fit=596%2C894&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":53473,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=53473","url_meta":{"origin":51699,"position":5},"title":"CfP: Those Who Serve: Service, Labor, and Social Hierarchies in Historical Perspective","author":"Branimir Jankovi\u0107","date":"19. svibnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"Doctoral and Postdoctoral Workshop: Ljubljana, 12\u201313 November 2026 Keynote: prof. dr. Jane Whittle (University of Exeter) From domestic servants and agricultural laborers to apprentices, soldiers, and clerks \u2013 countless people across history lived and worked in the service of others. This workshop explores service not merely as a job category,\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Novosti&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Novosti","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51701,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51699\/revisions\/51701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}