Negar Mortazavi


Negar Mortazavi

Journalist and Political Analyst

Negar Mortazavi is an award-winning journalist and commentator, editor and host of the Iran Podcast, and a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy (CIP), based in Washington DC. She has been covering Iranian and Middle Eastern affairs as well as US foreign policy towards the Middle East for over a decade.

Mortazavi is a frequent media commentator and has appeared on CNN, NBC, NPR, BBC, France24, Aljazeera, and other global outlets. She has written for Foreign Policy magazine, Politico, The Intercept, The Independent, and other publications, and is regularly invited to speak at panels and conferences around the world about Iranian affairs and US foreign policy.

Mortazavi has been featured in FORBES among 30 inspirational women who are breaking boundaries in work and life. She has been named by Middle East Policy Council (MEPC) among 40 young leaders shaping the present and future of US-Middle East relations, and among 40 Iranian-American young leaders who have made an enormous impact on their community and country. She was named a rising star in US foreign policy by New America Foundation, and by the Center For Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and in 2017 was named a Young Leader by Friends of Europe, a prominent European institution based in Brussels.

Mortazavi was previously a television anchor for Voice of America where she hosted a Persian talk show on current affairs and an English news segment on US elections. She was also a Washington Correspondent for Iran International television, and previously worked at the International Center For Journalists, the National Iranian American Council, and the United Nations Development Programme headquarters in New York.

Mortazavi received her Master's degree from Brandeis University and her Bachelor's degree from the University of Massachusetts. She grew up in Iran and Germany, immigrated to the United States in 2002, and has been living in exile since 2009.