Ali Vaez

I'm a foreign policy analyst and Iran expert, currently serving as Iran Project Director and Senior Adviser to the President at the International Crisis Group. I was part of the diplomatic effort that produced the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and I've spent the years since analyzing how agreements break down — and how wars begin.

Before Crisis Group, I was a UN political officer in the Department of Peacebuilding Affairs and a foreign correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. I hold a PhD from the University of Geneva and a master's from Johns Hopkins SAIS, and I teach at Georgetown's Walsh School of Foreign Service.

I'm the co-author of How Sanctions Work: Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare (Stanford University Press), and I write regularly in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic.

Here you can ask me about: Iranian politics & diplomacy, the nuclear deal & sanctions, and U.S.-Iran relations.