What do you think?
Rate this book
Axis of Empire: A History of Iran-US Relations
A chronicle of US imperialism’s century-long interaction with Iran’s successive regimes and people
The story of imperialism and resistance from the nineteenth century to the age of Trump, told in six gripping chapters each filled with ironic plot twists and colorful actors. Matin-Asgari tells the dramatic story of how America’s missionaries and educators, oilmen and CIA agents, scholars and arms dealers, diplomats and presidents. He shows how their Middle East misadventures entangled with ordinary Iranian men and women, entrepreneurs and industrial workers, nationalists and communists, students abroad and diaspora communities, shahs and ayatollahs. The book takes a fresh take on familiar the Cold War and the Iranian Revolution, the Hostage Crisis and the Iran-Iraq war, and decades of onerous American sanctions on Iran. its labyrinthine tales of yet another American imperial misadventure.
The story of imperialism and resistance from the nineteenth century to the age of Trump, told in six gripping chapters each filled with ironic plot twists and colorful actors. Matin-Asgari tells the dramatic story of how America’s missionaries and educators, oilmen and CIA agents, scholars and arms dealers, diplomats and presidents. He shows how their Middle East misadventures entangled with ordinary Iranian men and women, entrepreneurs and industrial workers, nationalists and communists, students abroad and diaspora communities, shahs and ayatollahs. The book takes a fresh take on familiar the Cold War and the Iranian Revolution, the Hostage Crisis and the Iran-Iraq war, and decades of onerous American sanctions on Iran. its labyrinthine tales of yet another American imperial misadventure.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published January 20, 2026
4 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Many stories have been shared around the bonfire of US-Iran relations. Coup d’états sponsored by American interests. Embassy officials held captive for months. Flames of political upheaval crushed, no matter if the sparks were ignited within the Iranian homeland or from foreign winds blowing across the Atlantic. The governments of Iran and the United States have both benefited from the smog of these fires, with each country able to paint the other as their bogeyman. The precise history of these relations, offered here by Afshin Matin-Asgari, demonstrates a path forward through the smoke.
The government of the United States has always been motivated by self-interest when building relations with Iran. The pursuit of oil profits and a strong military presence in Iran led to the U.S. seeking not just influence but control of the Iranian state, even if that meant taking less-than-democratic measures. Axis of Empire highlights the many attempts and eras of the United States’ grip of power in Iran, and the suffering that Iranians experienced because of it.
It’s also important to understand that the damage caused by the American empire’s grasp is used as a political tool of oppression within Iran. While the Iranian Revolution represented the powerful rejection of the regime of the ruthless and US-backed Shah, what arrived in its place was not the liberation Iranians had marched for. The Islamic Republic has often used domestic strife, such as the US Embassy hostage crisis and the Iran-Iraq War, to consolidate power and crush political dissent. Brutality of this shade is often justified with a finger pointed at the recent past, at the United States’ destructive political and cultural influence that still lurks in the shadows of Tehran. Asgari questions these justifications of the Islamic Republic without cutting any slack for the United States and its allies in the region.
With international sanctions tightening and bunker bombs increasingly let loose on Iran, many nations are still captive to the delusion that Iranian citizens must suffer for the regime that oppresses them. Axis of Empire is an analysis of the complex relations of the country of Iran and the empire of America, and there are only complex solutions. Iran must maintain its sovereignty without silencing the voices and mandate of its people. America, as in many other corners of its empire, must realize that no amount of force or pressure will win the hearts and minds in a country where the star-spangled banner has only smothered them.
The government of the United States has always been motivated by self-interest when building relations with Iran. The pursuit of oil profits and a strong military presence in Iran led to the U.S. seeking not just influence but control of the Iranian state, even if that meant taking less-than-democratic measures. Axis of Empire highlights the many attempts and eras of the United States’ grip of power in Iran, and the suffering that Iranians experienced because of it.
It’s also important to understand that the damage caused by the American empire’s grasp is used as a political tool of oppression within Iran. While the Iranian Revolution represented the powerful rejection of the regime of the ruthless and US-backed Shah, what arrived in its place was not the liberation Iranians had marched for. The Islamic Republic has often used domestic strife, such as the US Embassy hostage crisis and the Iran-Iraq War, to consolidate power and crush political dissent. Brutality of this shade is often justified with a finger pointed at the recent past, at the United States’ destructive political and cultural influence that still lurks in the shadows of Tehran. Asgari questions these justifications of the Islamic Republic without cutting any slack for the United States and its allies in the region.
With international sanctions tightening and bunker bombs increasingly let loose on Iran, many nations are still captive to the delusion that Iranian citizens must suffer for the regime that oppresses them. Axis of Empire is an analysis of the complex relations of the country of Iran and the empire of America, and there are only complex solutions. Iran must maintain its sovereignty without silencing the voices and mandate of its people. America, as in many other corners of its empire, must realize that no amount of force or pressure will win the hearts and minds in a country where the star-spangled banner has only smothered them.
Displaying 1 of 1 review