Senior University: ‘Iran, the USA and Israel’

Eirik Kvindesland

The USA and Israel launched military operations against Iran in February 2026, resulting in a conflict with significant consequences for the Middle East and the rest of the world. The USA and Israel justified the attacks as an effort to bring about regime change in Iran, to stop Iran’s right to enrich uranium, and to prevent the country from becoming a nuclear power in the Middle East.

In his lecture, Kvindesland will outline the long historical lines of Iran as a regional great power in the Middle East. This position has placed Iran in tension with global superpowers (the British Empire, Russia/the Soviet Union, and the USA), largely due to the exploitation of oil resources. Later, Israel has entered the picture, viewing its position as threatened by Iran’s ambitions as the Middle East’s only nuclear power.

Eirik Kvindesland is a Norwegian historian specialising in the modern Middle East, particularly Jewish history in Iran, the Persian Gulf, and Palestine/Israel. He holds a DPhil in History from the University of Oxford (2024), an MPhil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies from Oxford (2020), and a BA in Arabic and History from SOAS University of London (2017).

His career includes a postdoctoral position at the Institute for Iranian Studies at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (from 2025), participation in the ERC project “Persianate Jews”, previous work at the Norwegian embassy in Saudi Arabia and at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment. He has published widely in international journals and authored the book Iran and Israel: Old Friends and New Enemies. He also appears as a lecturer and commentator in NRK, TV2, and Al Jazeera.

Membership fee for one year: NOK 500

Association membership (up to 75 members): NOK 7,000

Non-members: NOK 100 per lecture

Tickets can be purchased at the entrance to cinema hall 1.