In this era of superheated rhetoric and vitriolic exchanges between the leaders of Iran and Israel, the threat of nuclear violence looms. But the real roots of the enmity between the two nations mystify Washington policymakers, and no promising pathways to peace have emerged. This book traces the shifting relations among Israel, Iran, and the United States from 1948 to the present, uncovering for the first time the details of secret alliances, treacherous acts, and unsavory political maneuverings that have undermined Middle Eastern stability and disrupted U.S. foreign policy initiatives in the region.

Introduction : an eight hundred-pound gorilla -- Pt. 1. 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 -- Pt. 2. The unipolar era -- The new world order -- Trading enemies -- From cold peace to cold war -- With Likud, the periphery doctrine returns -- Khatami's détente -- Betrayal in Afghanistan -- Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory -- Pt. 3. 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.