This book contains the collected work from “The Iranian Puzzle Piece: Understanding Iran in the Global Context.” This one-day international symposium, held at Marine Corps University (MCU), was cohosted by MCU and the Marine Corps University Foundation and was coordinated by the Marine Corps University’s Middle East Studies (MES ) that was established in 2007.
MCU is a world-class educational institution focused on the art and science of war and is fully engaged in and dedicated to its students’ professional military education. Through educational forums like the “Iranian Puzzle Piece,” MCU develops the professional competence of Marines and other leaders. Knowledge can be a powerful weapon for the 21st-century Marine. It was under this prerogative that MCU initiated the MES to help educate and prepare the next generation of leaders and war-fighters for the missions ahead.
The purpose of MES is to broaden the understanding of the Middle East and to assess emerging issues in the region that affect the Department of Defense, specifically the Marine Corps. The MES focused its initial efforts on Iran, providing a balanced assessment of Iran in terms of all diplomatic, information, military, and economic areas of influence. The MES supports the University and the Marine Corps by conducting lectures, seminars, and briefings on Iran and its foreign policy.
The symposium from which these essays originated offered a forum to enhance the overall understanding of Iran, exploring its internal dynamics, regional perspectives, and extra-regional factors and examining its near-term political and strategic options and their potential impact on the United States and the Marine Corps. This event joined together colleagues from the Armed Services, joint, interagency, coalition partners, and security communities and explored various perspectives to help develop an understanding of the role played by the Islamic Republic of Iran in the global community.
I would sincerely like to thank our distinguished authors and speakers whose expertise and insight made the “Iranian Puzzle Piece” an absolute success and this timely publication possible.