Can we ever trust Iran? To answer that question we have to know the Iranians. We have to understand a country with a history that goes back a thousand years.

Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet has made the study of Iranian and Middle East history a life long passion. Born in Tehran she was an eyewitness to the 1979 Iranian revolution. She lived through the start of the Iran-Iraq war before leaving for France and then the United States. She credits her years at Hotchkiss as launching her academic career leading to a doctorate from Yale and director of the Middle East Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Kashani-Sabet discusses the complex ethnicity of the Iranian population and its views of the Arab states and Israel. How has the 1953 coup affected relations with the United States? Given recent events is there any hope of improving relations with Iran?

All Salisbury Forum events are free and open to the public.