The data collected for this article came overwhelmingly from Persian-language primary and secondary sources. It also relied extensively on interviews with key Iranian decision-makers and the nuclear negotiating team and was supplemented by English-language sources and scholarship on a variety of issues. When generating the data, we placed great emphasis on the use of Persian-language sources, as the vast majority of scholarship and analysis on Iran’s nuclear program and national security policies relies almost exclusively on English-language secondary sources and press reports. One of the article’s primary goals was to demonstrate that neglect of Iranian sources and perspectives by many scholars and analysts has led to incomplete and inaccurate assessments of the Islamic Republic. As a result, our primary objective was to discuss the two most important security challenges Iran has faced in its contemporary history, the Iran-Iraq War and the nuclear file, by grounding our research in Iranian sources.
