An NIF Zoom event discussion regarding the prospects of reviving the Iran Nuclear Deal in the face of negotiations resuming on the issue.

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Speakers

Trita Parsi, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, expert on U.S.-Iranian relations, Iranian foreign policy, and the geopolitics of the Middle East, author of three books on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, named one of the 50 most influential voices on foreign policy in Washington D.C., Co-Founder and former President of the National Iranian American Council, has had articles on Middle East affairs published in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, Jane’s Intelligence Review, the Nation, The American Conservative, and others, is a frequent guest on CNN, PBS’s Newshour, NPR, the BBC, and Al Jazeera

Doug Bandow, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, specializes in foreign policy and civil liberties, worked as special assistant to President Ronald Reagan and editor of the political magazine Inquiry, regularly writes for leading publications such as Fortune magazine, National Interest, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Times, speaks frequently at academic conferences, on college campuses, and to business groups, is a regular commentator on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC

Negar Mortazavi, Iranian-American journalist and political analyst based in Washington D.C., has covered Iranian affairs and U.S.-Iran relations for over a decade, columnist for The Independent and host of the Iran Podcast, frequent media analyst on Iran and U.S. foreign policy and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, BBC, France24, Al Jazeera, and other international media outlets, regularly writes about Iranian politics and U.S. foreign policy towards the Middle East and has had work published in Foreign Policy magazine, The Intercept, Politico, Huffington Post, and other, speaks about Iranian affairs at major universities and academic institutions

Moderator

Bruce Fein, Founder and Principal Shareholder of Fein & DelValle PLLC, Harvard Law School honors graduate, served as Associate Deputy Attorney General and General Counsel of the Federal Communications Commission under President Ronald Reagan, was Counsel to the Joint Congressional Committee on Covert Arms Sales to Iran, appears regularly as a commentator on national and international radio and television, has testified as an expert witness before Congress on hundreds of occasions 

About our Speakers: 

Trita Parsi is the Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He is an expert on U.S.-Iranian relations, Iranian foreign policy, and the geopolitics of the Middle East. He has authored three books on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Iran and Israel. In 2021, he was named by the Washingtonian Magazine as one of the 50 most influential voices on foreign policy in Washington D.C., and preeminent public intellectual Noam Chomsky calls Parsi “one of the most distinguished scholars on Iran.” Parsi was born in Iran but moved with his family at the age of four to Sweden in order to escape political repression in Iran. His father was an outspoken academic who was jailed by the Shah and then by the Ayatollah. He moved to the United States as an adult and studied foreign policy at Johns Hopkins’ School for Advanced International Studies where he received his Ph.D. under Francis Fukuyama and Zbigniew Brzezinski. He is the Co-Founder and former President of the National Iranian American Council. Parsi has followed Middle East politics through work in the field and extensive experience on Capitol Hill and at the United Nations. He is frequently consulted by Western and Asian governments on foreign policy matters. Parsi has worked for the Swedish Permanent Mission to the UN, where he served in the Security Council, handling the affairs of Afghanistan, Iraq, Tajikistan, and Western Sahara, and in the General Assembly’s Third Committee, addressing human rights in Iran, Afghanistan, Myanmar, and Iraq. He has served as an adjunct professor of International Relations at Johns Hopkins University SAIS, New York University, and George Washington University, as well as an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute and as a Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC. He currently teaches at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. Parsi is fluent in Persian/Farsi, English, and Swedish. Parsi’s articles on Middle East affairs have been published in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, Jane’s Intelligence Review, the Nation, The American Conservative, the Jerusalem Post, The Forward, and others. He is a frequent guest on CNN, PBS’s Newshour, NPR, the BBC, and Al Jazeera.

Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, specializing in foreign policy and civil liberties. He worked as special assistant to President Ronald Reagan and editor of the political magazine Inquiry. He writes regularly for leading publications such as Fortune magazine, National Interest, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Times. Bandow speaks frequently at academic conferences, on college campuses, and to business groups. Bandow has been a regular commentator on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. He holds a JD from Stanford University.

Negar Mortazavi is an Iranian-American journalist and political analyst based in Washington D.C., who has been covering Iranian affairs and U.S.-Iran relations for over a decade. She is a columnist for The Independent and host of the Iran Podcast. She is a frequent media analyst on Iran and U.S. foreign policy, has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, BBC, France24, Al Jazeera, and international media outlets in China, Turkey, and Israel. Negar has interviewed prominent political, social, and cultural figures including American boxing champion Muhammad Ali, Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif, U.S. State Department spokesperson Alan Eyre, and former political prisoner Sarah Shourd, among others. Negar regularly writes about Iranian politics and U.S. foreign policy towards the Middle East. Her work has been published in Foreign Policy magazine, The Intercept, Politico, Huffington Post, and elsewhere. She frequently speaks about Iranian affairs at universities and academic institutions including MIT, Princeton, Johns Hopkins University of Maryland, and American University. In 2021 Negar was featured in Forbes magazine among 30 inspirational women who have made great achievements in various fields and continue to break boundaries in their work and life. Negar was also named among “40 Under 40” experts shaping U.S.- Middle East relations, and among “40 Under 40” Iranian-Americans who have made an enormous impact on their community and country. In 2020, she was named a MENA – American rising star in foreign policy by New America and named a MENA Young Leader by Friends of Europe in 2017. Previously, she was a television anchor for Voice of America where she hosted a Persian talk show on current affairs and an English news show on U.S. elections. She was also a Washington Correspondent for Iran International television, and worked at the International Center For Journalists, the National Iranian American Council, and the United Nations Development Programme in New York. She obtained a Master of Arts from Brandeis University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Massachusetts. She was raised in Iran and Germany, and immigrated to the United States in 2002.

About our Moderator: 

Bruce Fein is a Harvard Law School honors graduate and a founder and principal shareholder of Fein & DelValle PLLC, a Washington D.C. civil litigation firm with an international client base. Mr. Fein has served as senior advisor to former Congressman Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign; associate deputy attorney general; counsel to the Joint Congressional Committee on Covert Arms Sales to Iran; general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission; special assistant to the assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice; professor at George Washington University; Senior Fellow at American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation; executive editor of World Intelligence Review; and lecturer at the National Defense University. He appears regularly as a commentator on national and international radio and television, and has testified as an expert witness before Congress on hundreds of occasions. Mr. Fein’s firm, Fein & DelValle, was responsible for convincing Congress to release the 28 classified pages of the Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities before and after the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, which implicated Saudi Arabia in the 9/11 terrorism. He also drafted Senate legislation to terminate United States military assistance to Saudi Arabia in its war in Yemen, House legislation that makes Presidential Wars an impeachable offense, and drafted legislation which was instrumental in the enactment of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act.

Note: additional speakers may be announced later.