The Architecture of Hostility: Review Of Afshin Matin-Asgari’s Axis of Empire

On 27 February 2026, “A peace deal is within our reach” said Oman’s Foreign Minister as he was negotiating talks between Iran and US in Geneva. However, as the fate would have it, the very next morning Iran woke up to a joint military strike by US and Israel, leading to the assassination of its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali-Khamenei. Resulting into a situation where peace remains elusive, with implications stretching far across the West Asia.

This sudden attack should not be read in isolation; the genesis of this conflict must be located in its historical context. Which many observers believe is rooted in the US Imperial ambitions clouded in hegemonic tendencies of Israel to be the only reckoning power in West Asia. An arrangement, which of course serves the interests of both US and Tel Aviv, if not equally.

Yet, developments within the United States suggest the conflict does not enjoy uniform domestic support as it did in the past. A recent Reuters Ipsos poll shows significant anti-war sentiment in US against attack on Iran. Even Republicans have voiced the opposition. Many critics believe that Israel is dragging the US along, prioritising its ethnonationalists interests over American interests.

Against this backdrop, Afshin Matin-Asgari’s Axis of Empire: A History of Iran-US Relations becomes particularly relevant for understanding the roots of this conflict.

Matin-Asgari himself participated in anti-Shah protests in 1979 as a student activist, a background that informs his critical engagement with the evolution of Iranian-American relations. His work situates the entrenched history within larger debates of imperialism, oil-politics, and ideological contestations. And thereby

drawing, if any, the contemporary relevance’s they hold for the today’s geopolitical dynamics.

As Asgari shows, American engagement in Iran began not with military or intelligence involvement but through missionaries, educators, and scholars, long before the geopolitical rivalries dominated the scene. Formal diplomatic relations were established in 1882. Iran like rest of the developing-world was reeling under the occupation of Imperial powers. US entry was apparently perceived as a possible counterbalance.

By the turn of 20th century US had become a force to reckon with, in Iran. With US abandoning policy of interwar isolationism, its global strategic and energy interests expanded. Author identifies two overlapping schools that defined American policy during 1940s-50s, one driven by Cold War containment logic, and another by broader hegemonic and oil interests. Whatever be the case, Iran had consequentially become part of larger global hegemonic project of US.

Meanwhile, the political landscape in Iran changed owing to emergence of Mohammad Mossadegh’s National Front. The coalition brought together a diverse group of nationalist forces paving way towards Oil Nationalisation. As Asgari mentions, the US did not initially align fully with British opposition to nationalisation. However, the issue had soon become a strategic obstacle to the interests of both powers.

Eventually bringing Washington and London together, culminating in the 1953 coup. The author presents this event as a critical turning point that ended the brief tenure of constitutionalism in Iran. And sabotaging Iran’s democratic trajectory, leading to burgeoning of crises with generations perishing under its weight.

After installation of Shah, Asgari traces the expansion of American influence across multiple sectors. He highlights not only military cooperation but also soft-power initiatives such as the American Friends of the Middle East (AFME) which catalysed the creation of Iranian Student Association in the United States (ISAUS).

Interestingly, he notes how ISAUS later evolved into one of the most anti-imperialist student organisations.

The involvement also extended deeply into Iran’s security apparatus. Asgari discusses CIA’s role in creation of SAVAK in 1957, a notorious institution famous for its methods of torture, as Shah himself retorted that, “We have learned sophisticated methods of torture from you.”

He further connects Iran’s heavy military spending, to its deepening strategic dependence on the United States. Making Iran an essential wheel in the US Military Industrial complex. Asgari and scholars such as Hossein Mahdavi characterizes this within broader “client state” and a “rentier state” framework.

Despite Iran’s growing economic and geopolitical stature, the human rights violation, domestic unrest, and increasing political centralisation characterised the late shah period. Author notes that US response to this, and pressure of limited political reforms came too late to save the sinking ship.

By mid-1978, Khomeini explicitly called for the abolition of the monarchy and spelt out his idea of Islamic Republic. Asgari highlights the importance of “general strike” in shifting the political balance and convincing Cartar administration that the monarchy could no longer be sustained.

Post-1979 transformation

While analysing the aftermath of the revolution, Asgari mentions that the February 1979 attack on the US embassy and the November 1979 hostage crisis. The later, however, fundamentally altered Iran-US relations, leading to sanctions and diplomatic rupture a situation that effectively rules the US book till present.

The author also argues that while hostage crises may have effectively damaged Iran but it helped Khomeini to consolidate his revolutionary legitimacy, at the cost of international isolation.

The Iran-Iraq war forms another major analytical focus, in which the US and Gulf monarchies supported Iraq. A geopolitical alignment that continues to shape the dynamics of region even today. Asgari notes that American strategy was summed up by Kissinger, as “mutual exhaustion might rid the Middle East of the aggressive regimes of both Ayatollah and Saddam.”

Following Khomeini’s death in 1989, the book examines attempts at reconstruction and reform, particularly during Mohammad Khatami’s presidency after 1997. Asgari presents Khatami’s “Dialogue of Civilisations” against Huntington’s “Clash of civilisation”. Although he notes Khatami soon fell to deep state, and therefore had to rescind on his reformist path.

Nuclear question and contemporary tensions

The book moderately addresses Iran’s nuclear program and the implications thereof. Asgari suggests the program must be understood not only in energy terms but also in relation to sovereignty and deterrence. He connects the nuclear question to broader cycles of sanctions, changing goalposts and strategic pressure.

The author mentions, there was some hope for resurgence, during Obama’s first-term, however, talks failed in 2010. The Israeli hawks sitting in deep pockets, were eager to decimate the peace processes. However, with beginning of second term Obama vehemently opposed Israeli lobby. One can however, loathe as to how even the world’s longest standing democracy, the elected are held hostage by plutocrats.

By July 2015, JCPOA agreement was finally concluded. This deal, although not just, nevertheless marked a new dawn for the people of Iran. However, as fragile as this proved to be Asgari notes that In May 2018, It took merely an executive order from Trump to seal its fate. Sanctions were reimposed, putting Iran back on the burner. Since then US-Israel nexus has provoked Iran multiple times into the war.

As a result the present conflict appears far from over. Iran is determined to resist, while peace in West Asia remains distant, with little prospectus of either side winning the war.

The book concludes by pointing to the uncertain future of Iran-US relations. Yet, as current developments suggest, the structural patterns of rivalry and great-power ambition that book identifies remain very much intact. If anything, the present crisis suggests continuity rather than change, except perhaps in Washington’s apparent desire for an early off-ramp.

A good read therefore. However, readers may encounter structural emphasis occasionally leaves less room for influence that Israel carries in much hyped US-Iran binary. Nevertheless, the book remains accessible and analytically rich, making it useful both for general readers and students of international relations.

Axis of Empire review is an Independent writer whose work focuses on Kashmir, geopolitics, and democratic processes.