Negar Mortazavi

Negar Mortazavi (Persian: نگار مرتضوی; born 1981) is an Iranian-American journalist, political analyst, editor and host of the Iran Podcast.^[1] She is based in Washington DC.^[2]

Mortazavi was born in Tehran, Iran. She immigrated to the United States in 2002 as a student. She received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Massachusetts and a Master of Arts from Brandeis University.^[3] Since 2009 she has been forced into exile from the Iranian regime because of her journalism work.^[4]

Negar Mortazavi is a 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. Her writing and commentary has appeared in Foreign Policy magazine,^[5] the Guardian,^[6] the Independent,^[7] and Huffington Post among others.^[8]

Mortazavi worked as a TV reporter and presenter at Voice of America's Persian and English^[9] services from 2010 to 2014, where she hosted a daily talk show on current affairs named Straight Talk (Rooye Khat) and interviewed prominent figures including boxing champion Muhammad Ali, former American hostage in Iran Sarah Shourd, former U.S. Under Secretary of Treasury David S. Cohen, former United States Persian Spokesperson Alan Eyre, and many others.^[10][11][12]

In 2014, Mortazavi joined the staff of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) as a Media and Communications assistant.^[13] NIAC is an organization accused by some U.S. lawmakers of lobbying for Iranian government interests.^[14][15]

Mortazavi previously worked for the International Center for Journalists,^[16] the National Iranian American Council,^[17] and the United Nations headquarters in New York.^[18]

In 2014, she launched a unique kickstarter campaign and crowdfunded her travel to Brazil on assignment where she covered Iran's Team Melli presence in the FIFA World Cup live on Twitter.^[19]

Human rights and press freedom organizations including Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Center for Women in Journalism (CFWIJ) have reported that Mortazavi and multiple other prominent female journalists and analysts in the Iranian diaspora have been victims of targeted online harassment, smear campaigns, and physical threats and persecution to themselves and their families, both from the Iranian regime and from some Iranian opposition groups abroad.^[20][21] Mortazavi has been the target of many state-sponsored hacking attempts of her online and social media accounts.

In January 2020, Mortazavi's analysis of the assassination of Qasem Soleimani drew criticism from Iranian activists and diaspora members. In a social media post and an article for The Independent, she described the funeral crowds as a "rare show of national unity" and stated that the "grievances of the protesters have now taken a back seat in the face of a bigger external threat." Critics argued this framing echoed the official narrative of the Islamic Republic and ignored the 2019 "Aban" protests.^[22][23]

Mortazavi's reporting has been a subject of significant controversy within the Iranian diaspora. Organizations such as the Alliance Against Islamic Republic of Iran Apologists (AAIRIA) have accused her of mirroring government narratives, specifically citing her coverage of the 2020 shoot-down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752. Critics highlighted her characterization of the event as a "tragedy of human error" and her description of the military's admission as an example of "good governance."^[14]

In October 2022, a scheduled appearance by Mortazavi at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics (IOP) was moved to a virtual format following a bomb threat and more than 100 critical phone calls to the institute.^[24] Protesters and critics of the event cited her prior professional history with the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and alleged that her reporting mirrored the interests of the Iranian government.^[14][25][13] Mortazavi denied these allegations, describing the accusations as "absolutely false" and labeling the backlash as a "smear campaign" and a "crude attempt at censorship."^[24][26][27]

In 2021 Mortazavi was featured in Forbes among 30 inspirational women.^[28]

In 2021 Mortazavi was named a national security & foreign affairs leader by the Center For Strategic and International Studies (CSIC) based in Washington DC.^[29]

Mortazavi was named among 40 leaders under 40, shaping the present and future of US-Middle East relations by the Middle East Policy Council in Washington DC.^[30]

In 2020 Mortazavi was named a MENA-American next-generation leader in foreign policy and national security by New America Foundation in New York.^[31]

In 2017 Mortazavi was named a Young European Leader by Friends of Europe, a prominent progressive think tank based in Brussels, Belgium.^[32]

In 2014, The Guardian newspaper named her one of the top ten people to follow on Twitter for Iran news and commentary.^[33]

• Negar Nortazavi at The Independent
• Iran Podcast with Negar Nortazavi
• Negar Nortazavi on Twitter