Includes bibliographical references and index.

U.S.-Iran misperceptions: invitation to a dialogue / Abbas Maleki and John Tirman -- The United States and Iran: perceptions and policy traps / Robert Jervis -- Iranian perceptions of U.S. policy towards Iran: Ayatollah Khamenei's mindset / Seyed Hossein Mousavian -- American perceptions of Iran's policy towards the United States -- Iran's perception of the U.S. policy towards the region / Kayhan Barzegar -- America's perceptions of Iran's policy towards the region - John Tirman -- The future of U.S.-Iran relations / Huss Banai -- Improving U.S.-Iranian relations and overcoming perceptual biases / Abbas Maleki and Robert Reardon.

"Can Iranians and Americans find common ground to overcome their troubled history? U.S.-Iran Misperceptions: A Dialogue, is a first-ever written dialogue on the key issues that separate the two great countries. Bringing together former policy makers and international relations experts from the United States and Iran, U.S.-Iran misperceptions: A Dialogue provides new insights and arguments about how each country's elites view the other, and how misperceptions have blocked the two from forging a normal and productive relationship. guided by the leading theorist of misperceptions in international relations, Columbia professor Robert Jervis, the book moves from Jervis' opening essay to consider mutual perceptions of ideology, nuclear weapons, neo-imperialism, regional hegemony, and the future of the relationship. It presents authoritative, clear-eyed asessments, while seeking plausible ways the two countries can avoid a catastrophic war and rebuild the relationship. U.S.-Iran misperceptions: A dialogue offers uncompromising analysis and cautious optimism"--