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 Report, Daily 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
Iran-Backed Militia Group Calls for Collective Action to Reclaim Golan Heights, Destroy Israel
Over the past six years, Iran has played a key role in propping up the embattled regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, by sending Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) military personnel as well as recruiting, funding, training and leading an extensive network of Iraqi, Lebanese, Pakistani and Afghan Shiite militia forces.
Authorities in Iran Intensify Crackdown on Christian Converts
The Appeals Court in Tehran has upheld a five-year jail term for Christian convert Ebrahim Firoozi for his alleged missionary activities in Iran, the Center for Human Right
With ISIS Losing Ground in Mosul, Iran-Backed Militias Turn Attention to Iraqi Rivals
A prominent Iran-backed Iraqi militia commander has warned peshmerga forces loyal to the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) to withdraw from the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar and stressed that the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) will not allow any parts of Nineveh Province to be incorporated into the Iraqi
Iran Will Allow Russia Limited Use of Iranian Air Bases for Syria Strikes
Iran has announced that it will allow Russia to use Iranian bases “on a case by case basis” to launch air strikes against “terrorists” in Syria.
Kayhan Editor: U.S. and Allies Trying to Weaken Iran's Regime by Empowering "Moderates"
Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor-in-chief of hardline Kayhan newspaper, claims that an assessment of speeches by U.S. politicians at the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) this week shows America and its allies are afraid of the Islamic Republic’s power.
Renewal U.N. Special Rights Rapporteur’s Mandate Unnerves Iran’s Judiciary Chief
Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeqh Larijani has criticized the U.N. Human Rights Council for renewing the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran for another year. “Unfortunately, the United Nations’ human rights bodies have become a tool to pressure independent states,” Larijani said in a meeting with high-ranking judiciary officials in Tehran.
Iran Sanctions 15 American Firms and Is Mulling Blacklisting U.S. Army and CIA
Iran on Sunday blacklisted 15 American companies in retaliation for new sanctions by the Trump administration targeting the Iranian missile program.
Bahrain Says Busted another Iran-Backed “Terror Cell” Plotting Assassinations
Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior said on Sunday that it has dismantled an Iran-backed group that planned terrorist attacks in the island kingdom, including assassination of high-profile government officials.
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry Denies Medical Treatment to Elderly Baha'i Languishing in Jail
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry is refusing necessary medical treatment to Jamaloddin Khanjani, an 83-year-old former community leader of the Baha’i minority who has spent more than nine years in an Iranian jail.
Arab Leaders Accuse Iran of Sharing Missile Technology with Houthi Rebels in Yemen
Major General Ahmed al-Assiri, the spokesperson of the Saudi-led coalition forces, has accused Iran of intensifying and prolonging the Yemeni conflict by supporting Houthi rebels, including sharing missile technology with the militants.
Iran and Russia Team up with Taliban to Undermine U.S.-led Mission in Afghanistan
Afghan and U.S. officials say Iran and Russia have teamed up to undermine the U.S.-led stabilization efforts in Afghanistan by sheltering, training, funding and arming Taliban insurgents. They claim that the two countries have not only expanded their diplomatic engagement with the Taliban leadership, but are also providing advanced weapons to the insurgents that are fighting the Afghan government and the U.S.-led coalition forces in the country.
Renewal of U.N. Special Rights Rapporteur’s Mandate Angers Iran
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has denounced as “selective and spiteful” the U.N. Human Rights Council’s resolution to renew the mandate of a U.N. special rapporteur to investigate human rights situation in Iran, the Press TV reports.
Top Iranian Cleric Warns of Plot by “Secular” Iranians and “Foreigners” to Topple Regime
A top aide to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has warned that “a number of opportunists” intend to wage a “political expedition” to empower “secular” movements in order to seize power in the country.
Iranian Cleric Warns of “Hidden Agenda” behind Trump’s Nowruz Message
President Donald Trump’s Persian New Year message to the Iranian people is a plot by the U.S.