No Conquest, No Defeat

'In this comprehensive and historically informed book, Tabatabai traces post-revolutionary Iran's defence policy back to the nineteenth century and highlights elements of long-standing continuity. This is a persuasive and corrective study opposing the oft-repeated claim that the Islamic Republic's national security approach can be captured in one word: revolutionary .' -- Sussan Siavoshi, Una Chapman Cox Professor of International Affairs, Trinity University, San Antonio 'A magisterial work of scholarship that skilfully overturns common tropes on the Islamic Republic's military behaviour. Deploying a rich array of sources and written in graceful, lucid prose, No Conquest, No Defeat unspools the threads of continuity between Iran's supposedly exceptional present and its pre-revolutionary past.' -- Frederic Wehrey, Senior Fellow, Middle East Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace ' No Conquest, No Defeat offers a fresh and innovative perspective on the underlying security considerations that drive Iranian strategic thinking, its foreign policy, and its behaviour in the region. Tabatabai argues that continuity rather than a sharp break characterises Iran's international behaviour under the Islamic Republic. A must-read.' -- Haleh Esfandiari, Director Emerita and Public Policy Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars 'No Conquest, No Defeat: Iran's National Security Strategy argues convincingly that rather than being divorced from pre-revolutionary Iran, the Islamic Republic is no different fundamentally in terms of its strategic thinking; it presents thought-provoking reasons as to why this is so. This helps to explain Iran's diplomatic posturing and foreign policies for those who hold preconceived notions that it is an irrational and non-pragmatic state.' -- Middle East Monitor