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John Limbert is a retired Foreign Service Officer and academic. In 2018 he ended 12 years as Class of 1955 Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the U.S. Naval Academy. During a 33-year career in the United States Foreign Service, he served in the Middle East and Islamic Africa and was ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. In 2009-2010 he came out of retirement to serve as deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern (Iranian) Affairs. Ambassador Limbert holds his Ph.D. from Harvard University in history and Middle Eastern studies. He taught in Iran as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kurdistan (1964-66) and as an instructor at Shiraz University (1969-72). He has written numerous articles and books on Middle Eastern subjects including Iran at War with History (Westview Press, 1987), Shiraz in the Age of Hafez (University of Washington Press, 2004), and Negotiating with Iran (U.S. Institute of Peace, 2009).
With Iran, American policymakers have often chased phantoms in search of solutions to problems they did not understand. This futile shadow-chase continues when “experts” argue that the U.S. should somehow encourage the break-up of Iran on ethnic or linguistic lines. This idea is simply wrong.
In C.S. Lewis’ fantasy land of Narnia, the white witch put a spell on her realm to ensure that there would be perpetual winter and that Christmas would never come. For 34 years American-Iranian relations have been similar: a long, hard freeze unbroken by any cracks or signs of thaw.
