In the 1960s, a group of student intellectuals formed to oppose the Shah of Iran and became an enemy of the clerical regime of Ayatollah Khomeini following the 1979 Revolution. U.S. officials twisted the students’ story in a misguided attempt to appease the Iranian government. In ‘The Ayatollahs and the MEK: Iran’s Crumbling Influence Operation, ‘ Ambassador, Lincoln P. Bloomfield, Jr. – a former senior defense and foreign policy official who served three presidents over five administrations in the Pentagon, the White House and the U.S. State Department – presents breaking revelations and documents compelling evidence that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s organized opposition, the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), and its parliament-in-exile, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), have been falsely portrayed in Washington and around the world for years. Professor Ivan Sascha Sheehan, Executive Director of the School of Public and International Affairs, at the University of Baltimore writes in the book’s Foreword: ‘A careful examination of the facts supports this conclusion and tells a very different story than the one authored by Tehran and too often echoed in Washington.’ Ambassador Bloomfield’s pathbreaking book has received widespread praise from former senior leaders in the national security, counter-terrorism and law enforcement communities, including a former Director of the F.B.I., a former U.S. National Security Advisor, and a former U.S. Attorney General. ‘The Ayatollahs and the MEK’ unravels the regime’s disinformation campaign and brings a fresh perspective to the Iran policy conversation.
A propos de l’auteur
Dr. Ivan Sascha Sheehan is an Associate Professor of Public and International Affairs at the University of Baltimore where he serves as Executive Director of the School of Public and International Affairs. Dr. Sheehan’s scholarship – including his first book and numerous journal articles – has involved quantitative analyses of terrorism incident data and the impact of preemptive force on terrorist activity. He has published in peer-reviewed journals on topics related to evidence-based counterterrorism policy, terrorism studies, foreign terrorist organizations, counterinsurgency, suicide terrorism, and regime change in the Middle East. The author of more than eighty publications, Dr. Sheehan’s writing has appeared in The National Interest, Foreign Policy, Fox News, Al Jazeera, The Washington Times, The Hill, Roll Call, The Washington Examiner, The Baltimore Sun, Haaretz, The Jerusalem Post, National Post, United Press International, Townhall.com, Newsmax, The Daily Caller, Independent Journal Review, Modern Diplomacy, International Policy Digest, New York Daily News, Citiscope, and La Tribune. His writing has been translated into French and Farsi and has been cited in official testimony before the Canadian parliament. Dr. Sheehan previously served as the director of the Negotiation and Conflict Management graduate program and was the founding director of the Global Affairs and Human Security graduate program in the College of Public Affairs at the University of Baltimore. An award-winning professor, Dr. Sheehan is the recipient of the 2015 University of Baltimore President’s Faculty Award, the 2016 University System of Maryland Board of Regents Award, and a 2017 citation from the Maryland State Senate in recognition of ‘Exceptional leadership and Service to the University of Baltimore.’ He previously taught at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Bentley University, Tufts University, and George Mason University.