A symposium on the standoff between Iran and the United States over the Iran's determination to enrich uranium

Saturday October 18, 2008 from 6:00 - 8:30 pm in Taper Hall at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles

Moderated by Ian Masters

With wars on both sides of Iran, will the West attack Iran and plunge the strategically vital but combustible Middle East into a third war? Or can diplomacy intervene to avoid a clash that will likely ignite a wider war?

The panel and the topics will be:

Who runs Iran?

Robert Baer is a former CIA ocer who operated against Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah. His exploits became the basis for the character George Clooney portrayed in the movie Syrianna, for which Clooney won an Academy Award. Baer's latest book is, The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower.

Iran, the IAEA, and the United Nations Security Council

Dr. Muhammad Sahimi is the NIOC Chair in petroleum engineering and professor of chemical engineering & materials science at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Dr. Sahimi, author of numerous articles on Iran's nuclear program, will discuss the legal aspects of the dispute between Iran and the Western powers regarding Iran's nuclear energy program.

The status of Iran's enrichment program

One of the few Western specialists to have visited Iran's uranium conversion site in Esfahan, Michael Levi is the David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment at The Council on Foreign Relations, where he was previously Fellow for Science and Technology. He is the author of the books, On Nuclear Terrorism, and The Future of Arms Control.

The possibility of deep changes inside Iran

Dr. Reza Aslan is an internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions. He is a fellow at USC's Center on Public Diplomacy and an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at University of California Riverside. A Middle East analyst for the CBS News, he is the author of the bestseller, No God But God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam.

The need for dialogue between Iran and the United States

Ali Shakeri was one of the four Iranian-Americans detained in Iran last year. He is a well-known political activist, and a community advisory board member of Center for Citizens Peace Building at the University of California in Irvine.

The event is co-sponsored by the USC School of International Studies, the Middle East Program, Center For International Studies, and the Study Group of Iranian Affairs (SUGIA).