Anoushiravan Ehteshami is Professor of International Relations in the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University. The Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah Chair in International Relations and Director of the HH Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah Programme in International Relations, Regional Politics and Security, he is, further, Director of the Institute for Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies (IMEIS) at Durham, a Fellow of University College Durham, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is the co-author of publications including Islam, IS and the Fragmented State: The Challenges of Political Islam in the MENA Region (2021), How China is Changing the Middle East (2020), and author of Iran: Stuck in Transition (2017).