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Iran After the War: Power, Society, and an Uncertain Future
The war has profoundly changed Iran, both externally and internally. But what political and societal consequences have the military confrontations left behind? Who determines the country’s course today, what different positions exist within Iran’s political leadership and society, and what role do external actors play?
This talk examines the political transformations taking place in Iran, shifting power dynamics, and competing visions for the country’s future. Particular attention will be paid to Iranian civil society: How have war, economic crisis, and increasing repression affected its room for manoeuvre and what do these developments mean for Iran’s future?
Dr. Diba Mirzaei is a political scientist and historian. In her doctoral dissertation she examined Iran’s foreign policy toward Saudi Arabia from 1968 to 1979. Her research focuses on modern Iranian and Persian Gulf history, foreign policy and diplomacy in the Cold War era, Iran-Saudi relations and regional order formation and security in the Persian Gulf.
She has published policy briefs on Iran’s foreign policy and domestic developments and has taught courses at the University of Hamburg on Iranian foreign policy since the 1970s as well as on international relations theory. She was the 2025 fall Zahedi Fellow with the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University and previously worked at the German Federal Foreign Office in the field of humanitarian assistance. Currently, she is a project manager at Berghof Foundation.
The event is organized as a University Alliance Ruhr cooperation (Ruhr University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, and the University of Duisburg-Essen). Access details will be provided after registration. All participants are kindly asked to keep their cameras switched on during the event in order to ensure a trusting and dialogue-oriented atmosphere.
Please register using the email address of your university.