Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : an eight hundred-pound gorilla -- The cold war era -- An alliance of necessity : the secret friendship of the Shah -- Rise of Israel, rise of Iran -- Iran's quest for supremacy -- Sealing demise in the moment of triumph -- Megalomania -- The rise of Begin and the Israeli right -- Enter the sign of God -- Ideological shifts, geopolitical continuities -- Saddam attacks -- Scandal -- The dying gasp of the periphery doctrine -- The unipolar era -- The new world order -- Trading enemies -- From cold peace to cold war -- With Likud, the periphery doctrine returns -- Khatami's dâetente -- Betrayal in Afghanistan -- Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory -- Looking ahead -- Facing the future, facing reality -- Appendix A : Iran's May 2003 negotiation proposal to the United States -- Appendix B : Original U.S. draft negotiation proposal -- Appendix C : Letter from Ambassador Guldimann to the U.S. State Department.