Speech at the Brookings Institution Doha Center (BDC)
Doha, Qatar, February 26, 2018

By Hooshang Amirahmadi, Rutgers University

Ladies and Gentlemen, good evening! Let me begin by thanking the Brookings Doha Center for organizing this timely panel on Iran and for inviting me to share my thoughts on the subject with you.

The title of my talk is: Iran’s Perilous Choices: State Alteration or Societal Disruption

Unhappily, I must begin by saying that all is not well with Iran today: The nation faces formidable domestic challenges in economic, political, social and environmental spheres as well as tough external challenges, more notably in relations with the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia.  Iran also faces a crisis of identity and confidence as it also faces an uncertain future. As things stand, the republic is neither Islamic, nor revolutionary or even nationalistic, and it has also lost confidence in its own future.