Vali Nasr is an Iranian-American scholar who has bridged the world of diplomacy, scholarship, and teaching. He knows well the country of his birth and the country he adopted and lives in, the United States.

The son of an Islamic scholar, he was born in Iran, came to the U.S. with his family after the revolution in 1979, and received his PhD from MIT in 1991.

He is now Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University’s School of International Studies and continues to write about the Middle East.

His books include The Shia Revival, Forces of Fortune, and The Dispensable Nation. His most recent in 2025 is Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political History.

We are at a moment where the possibility of war exists. We will talk about what it means for the United States and Iran.