Understanding Iran: Past, Present, Future

On May 13, International Relations Council and American Public Square will be joining forces to present a program on the historical context, current conflicts, and future outlook for Iran. What has happened in the country since the 1979 Iranian Revolution? What is the latest in the ongoing conflict between the United States, Israel, and Iran? How will the current events shape Iran and the region moving forward? This program brings together leading expert Mona Yacoubian (CSIS) and Kansas City’s Azzie Amani-Taleshi to explore these questions and help provide analysis, and share first-hand accounts on this rapidly evolving situation.

This program is presented in partnership with The International Relations Council.

Registration
5:30 – 6 pm
Program
6 – 7:30 pm

Mona Yacoubian is director and senior adviser of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She has more than thirty years of experience working on the Middle East and North Africa, with a focus on conflict analysis, governance and stabilization challenges, and conflict prevention. She was previously vice president of the Middle East and North Africa Center at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), where she managed field programming in Iraq, Libya, and Tunisia as well as Washington, D.C.–based staff. In 2019, she served as executive director of the congressionally appointed Syria Study Group. From 2014 to 2017, Yacoubian served as deputy assistant administrator in the Middle East Bureau at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she had responsibility for programming across Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq. Prior to joining USAID, Yacoubian was a senior adviser at the Stimson Center and a special adviser on the Middle East at USIP. From 1990 to 1998, Yacoubian served as the North Africa analyst in the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Her opinion pieces have appeared in the New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and various other outlets, and she has testified to Congress six times. Yacoubian was a Fulbright scholar in Syria, where she studied Arabic at the University of Damascus from 1985 to 1986. She has held an international affairs fellowship with the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and is a CFR member. She earned a master’s in public administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor’s in public policy from Duke University.

Azadeh (“Azzie”) Amani-Taleshi was born in Tehran, Iran, and during the peak of the Iran and Iraq war in the late 1980s immigrated with her family to the U.S. where they settled in Kansas. Azzie’s education covers a BA in Human Biology and an MA in Journalism and Mass Communications from the University of Kansas. She currently is a VP, Strategic Planning Director, working remotely for FCBCure, Interpublic Group, based in NYC. Azzie’s 17+ years of professional experience was developed in NYC and LA before returning to Kansas. This journey helped Azzie develop a forward-thinking, astute, energetic and an entrepreneurial leadership mindset managing and leading blockbuster brands nationally and globally. Azzie also applied her experience to launch the first Fair Trade Iranian Saffron in the U.S., under a small business start up known as Pishkesh Market, which is currently on pause due to the sanctions imposed on Iran by the former administration.

Azzie was also trained as an actress in New York City and performed in local theatres and movies, one of which was a short movie landing her the best supporting actress award at an LA film festival.

Ret. Col. Frank Klimas is currently an Assistant Professor, Department of Joint, Interagency, and Multinational Operations at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. Col. Klimas served as Air Force Foreign Affairs Officer for the Middle East and North Africa. He previously worked at the American Embassy in Rabat, Morocco as a Security Cooperation Officer conducting military engagement activities with the Royal Moroccan Air Force. He has traveled throughout the Middle East as a diplomat and a military aviator. He served as Commander of the 505th Command and Control Wing Detachment 1 at Fort Leavenworth.