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Ahmad Majidyar

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Ahmad Khalid Majidyar is a Middle East & South Asia analyst with a focus on Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was previously a senior fellow and the director of IranObserved Project at the Middle East Institute.

From 2008 to 2015, Majidyar worked as a senior research associate at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he co-authored two monographs on Iran: Iranian Influence in the Levant, Egypt, Iraq and Afghanistan (AEI 2012), and The Shi’ites of the Middle East: An Iranian fifth column? (AEI 2014). He also published a number of research papers on Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

As an instructor with the Naval Postgraduate School’s Leadership Development and Education for Sustained Peace program (2008-2016), Majidyar provided graduate-level seminars to more than 3,000 U.S. and NATO military leaders on Afghanistan and the broader region. In addition, he has provided briefings on Iran and Afghanistan at the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Joint IED Defeat Organization, the National Defense University, the State Department, and Congress; and he has spoken as a guest analyst at think tanks, universities, and world affairs councils.

Majidyar’s articles on Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan have been published in Foreign Policy, The New York Times, Fareed Zakaria’s GPS, Fox News, U.S. News & World ReportDaily Telegraph, and Forbes, among others. He has also discussed Middle Eastern topics on the BBC, CNN, Al-Jazeera English, Sky News, CBC Canada, Bloomberg News and Voice of America’s Dari, Farsi, Urdu and English services.

Previously, Majidyar worked as a media analyst with the BBC Monitoring in Afghanistan and as a humanitarian aid worker with the UNHCR in Pakistan.

The Latest from Ahmad Majidyar

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Iranian Protestors Blast Government for Engaging in Foreign Wars and Neglecting Domestic Priorities
  • Analysis
  • Iranian Protestors Blast Government for Engaging in Foreign Wars and Neglecting Domestic Priorities

    Iran’s oil-rich Khuzestan Province has been hit by four consecutive days of angry protest rallies, as residents have been calling on the government to address the region’s worsening environmental degradation and air pollution. People are also angry because their power and water supplies have been cut off for several days as well. Protesters in the provincial capital city of Ahwaz also blasted local authorities and the government of President Hassan Rouhani for neglecting the region.

    February 17, 2017

    Iranian Opposition Leader’s Son Lambasts Khamenei and Rouhani for Illegal Arrests
  • Analysis
  • Iranian Opposition Leader’s Son Lambasts Khamenei and Rouhani for Illegal Arrests

    The son of Mehdi Karroubi, a former Iranian opposition leader and presidential candidate who has been held under house arrest in Iran since February 2011, says Iran’s Supreme Leaders Ali Khamenei is directly responsible for the illegal detention of his father. “The whole issue comes down to Mr.

    February 17, 2017

    Iran-Backed Group Marks Hezbollah Leader’s Assassination Anniversary by Firing Missiles in Iraq
  • Analysis
  • Iran-Backed Group Marks Hezbollah Leader’s Assassination Anniversary by Firing Missiles in Iraq

    Fars News Agency (FNA) reports today that Iran-supported Iraqi Shiite militia group Harakat al-Nujaba commemorated the “martyrdom” anniversary of Hezbollah’s former military leader Imad Mughniyeh by firing missiles at Islamic State targets in northern regions of Iraq’s Salahuddin Province. According to FNA, an outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.), the Shiite militia group launched an offensive dubbed “Operations for the Blood of Martyred Commander Imad Mughniyeh” to “liberate” the Islamic State-held region of Jabal Makhul (Makhul Mountains) in Salahuddin.

    February 15, 2017

    Erdogan’s G.C.C. Trip Unnerves Tehran
    Middle East Institute
  • Analysis
  • Erdogan’s G.C.C. Trip Unnerves Tehran

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s official trip to Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar has prompted anxiety in Tehran. Erdogan arrived in Riyadh on Monday night after a visit to Bahrain, and he is scheduled to go to Qatar next.

    February 14, 2017

    Rouhani Called Out for Not Fulfilling Election Promise of Releasing Political Prisoners
  • Analysis
  • Rouhani Called Out for Not Fulfilling Election Promise of Releasing Political Prisoners

    The U.S. Department of State released a statement this afternoon calling for the immediate release of former Iranian opposition leaders and presidential candidates Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, as well as Mousavi’s wife and women’s rights activist Zahra Rahnavard.

    February 14, 2017