Dalia Dassa Kaye’s new book, “Enduring Hostility: The Making of America’s Iran Policy,” recounts and analyzes the root causes behind more than four decades of failed efforts at reconciliation between the U.S. and Iran.
Distinguished Fellow Barbara Slavin will discuss the book with Kaye and veteran diplomat Ryan Crocker, the current fraught situation in the aftermath of Israeli and American strikes on Iran and the prospects for change in the future.
Featured Speakers
Dalia Dassa Kaye, Senior Fellow, UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations
Dalia Dassa Kaye is a Senior Fellow at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations and former Senior Political Scientist and Director of the RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy. A recipient of many awards and fellowships, she speaks and publishes widely on U.S. and Middle East policy. A frequent public speaker and contributor to leading media outlets, she is the author of dozens of articles and policy reports, as well as three books, most recently Enduring Hostility: The Making of America’s Iran Policy (Stanford University Press, 2026).
Ryan Crocker, Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow, Middle East Institute (Virtual Speaker)
Ryan Crocker is a Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow at the Middle East Institute, a member of the Afghanistan War Commission, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and holds the Distinguished Chair in Diplomacy and Security at RAND. A former Dean of the Bush School of Government a Texas A&M who also taught at Yale, Princeton and the University of Virginia, he was a career Foreign Service Officer who served as Ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait, and Lebanon. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, in 2009.
Barbara Slavin, Distinguished Fellow, Stimson Center (Moderator)
Barbara Slavin is a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington and a lecturer in international affairs at George Washington University. Prior to joining Stimson, she founded and directed the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council and led a bi-partisan task force on Iran. The author of Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the US and the Twisted Path to Confrontation (2007), she is a regular commentator on US foreign policy and Iran on NPR, PBS and C-Span.