Trita Parsi | |
|---|---|
تريتا پارسی | |
_(cropped).jpg) Parsi in 2010 | |
| Born | Trita Parsi (1974-12-19)19 December 1974 (age 50) |
| Citizenship | Iran,Sweden |
| Education | Bachelor's Degree in International Relations,Master’s Degree in International Relations,Ph.D. in International Relations |
| Alma mater | Johns Hopkins University Uppsala University Stockholm University School of Business |
| Occupation(s) | Author, analyst |
| Organization | National Iranian American Council |
| Spouse | Amina Semlali |
| Children | 3 |
| Website | tritaparsi |
Trita Parsi (Persian:تریتا پارسی, born ?21 July 1974) is an Iranian-born Swedish writer and activist, co-founder and executive vice president of theQuincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, and founder and former president of theNational Iranian American Council.
He writes articles and appears on TV to comment on foreign policy and is the author ofTreacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States;A Single Roll of the Dice: Obama's Diplomacy with Iran; andLosing an Enemy: Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy. In 2010Treacherous Alliance won theGrawemeyer Award for "Ideas Improving World Order."
Trita Parsi was born inAhvaz,[1]Iran. His father, Dr. Touraj Parsi,[1] was a politically active university professor at Jondi-Shapoor University ofAhvaz who was jailed twice, first byMohammad Reza Pahlavi and then, following theIranian Revolution, byRuhollah Khomeini.[2] Parsi's family moved toSweden when he was four to escape the political repression in Iran.[3]
Parsi earned a master's degree in international relations atUppsala University and a second master's degree in economics at theStockholm School of Economics.[4] As an adult, he moved to the United States and studied foreign policy at theJohns Hopkins University'sNitze School for Advanced International Studies, where he received hisPh.D.[5] in international relations underFrancis Fukuyama.[4]
Early in his career, Parsi worked for the Swedish Permanent Mission to theUnited Nations in New York, where he served in theSecurity Council, handling the affairs of Afghanistan, Iraq, Tajikistan, and Western Sahara, and on theGeneral Assembly's Third Committee, addressing human rights in Iran, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Iraq.[4]
In 2003, Parsi served as an aide to RepresentativeBob Ney.[6][7] Parsi has served as an adjunct professor of international relations atJohns Hopkins University SAIS, an adjunct scholar at theMiddle East Institute and as a Policy Fellow at theWoodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC.[8]
In 2002, Parsi founded theNational Iranian American Council (NIAC), whose stated purpose is "dedicated to strengthening the voice ofIranian-Americans and promoting greater understanding between the American and Iranian people. We accomplish our mission through expert research and analysis, civic and policy education, and community building."[9] At NIAC's founding, Parsi argued "Our community is educated, affluent, dynamic, and professionally successful. However, we have yet to harness our immense human potential into constructive engagement in American civil society."[10]
Through NIAC, Parsi supports engagement between the US and Iran, saying it "would enhance our [U.S.] national security by helping to stabilize theMiddle East and bolster the moderates in Iran."[5]
In a 2011 talk sponsored by the Institute for Global Law and Policy at theHarvard Law School, Parsi argued that the conflict between Israel and Iran was not ideological but strategic and geopolitical.[11] In a 2012 article forSalon, Parsi accused Israel of using the threat of war to push the U.S. and EU into economic sanctions on Iran.[12]
In 2007, Arizona-based Iranian-American blogger[13] Hassan Daioleslam began publicly asserting that NIAC was lobbying on behalf of theIslamic Republic of Iran. Daioleslam wrote in an internal email, "I strongly believe that Trita Parsi is the weakest part of the Iranian web because he is related toSiamak Namazi andBob Ney... I believe that destroying him will be the start of attacking the whole web. This is an integral part of any attack on Clinton or Obama."[14][15]
In response, Parsi sued him for defamation. In September 2012, a U.S.federal judgeJohn D. Bates threw out the libel suit against Daioleslam on the grounds that "NIAC and Parsi had failed to show evidence of actual malice, either that Daioeslam acted with knowledge the allegations he made were false or with reckless disregard about their accuracy." Bates also wrote, "Nothing in this opinion should be construed as a finding that defendant’s articles were true. Defendant did not move for summary judgment on that ground, and it has not been addressed here."[16]
In 2007,Yale University Press publishedTreacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States. Parsi's work is an expansion of his 2006 Ph.D. dissertation writing at Johns Hopkins University under the supervision of his Ph.D. adviserFrancis Fukuyama.[17] The book "takes a closer look at the complicated triangular relations betweenIsrael,Iran, and theUnited States that continue to shape the future of theMiddle East."[18] The book argues that the struggle between Israel and Iran is not ideological but strategic.
InForeign Affairs, L. Carl Brown called the book a "well-constructed history" and former U.S. ambassadorPeter Galbraith praised the book as "a wonderfully informative account." The book was also praised by political scientistJohn Mearsheimer and formerNational Security AdvisorZbigniew Brzezinski who was on his dissertation committee.[4][19] In 2008,Treacherous Alliance was awarded the silver medal (runner-up) in theCouncil on Foreign Relations'Arthur Ross Book Award.[18]
Reviewing the book in the pro-IsraelCommentary in March 2008, Jerusalem-basedNathan Thrall was skeptical of the praise heaped on this book by authorities in American foreign policy and Middle East studies. He disagreed with Parsi's contention that the internal dynamics of states (i.e., their ideology, system of governance, ethnic makeup, class structure, and religion) have little or no impact on their foreign policies. Thrall suggested that in propounding such a thesis, Parsi, "the head of a lobby promoting 'greater understanding' of Iran," may just be "doing his job. But the distinction between arriving at a conclusion and beginning with one is what separates the work of a historian from that of a lobbyist. In this case, it is a distinction that seems to be lost not only on him but on the luminaries who have lined up to endorse his defective scholarship and tendentious conclusions."[19]
Treacherous Alliance received the 2010Grawemeyer Award from theUniversity of Louisville, given for "Ideas Improving World Order."[4]Treacherous Alliance also won the 2008 Arthur Ross Silver Medallion from the Council on Foreign Relations, which described it as a "unique and important book" that "takes a closer look at the complicated triangular relations between Israel, Iran, and the United States that continue to shape the future of the Middle East."[20]
In a 2011 interview with the Institute for Global Law and Policy at Harvard University, Parsi asserted that his thesis had "been vindicated" by recent events. "I believe it is increasingly clear that efforts to divide the region between moderates vs radicals, democracies vs non-democracies etc is of little utility and has no real explanatory value. Israel, for instance, who had sought to frame its rivalry with Iran as a struggle between the region's sole Western democracy against a fanatical Islamic tyranny, favored the status quo in Egypt and opposed the efforts to oust Mubarak." He added that "With the decline of the US, Israel's strategic paralysis and increased isolation in the region, the rise of Turkey, the 'revolutions' inTunisia andEgypt, and Iran's continued difficulties in translating its strength to regional acceptance, the region is experiencing momentous changes both in its political structure and in its balance of power. An ideology-based approach towards understanding these shifts won't get you far."[21]
In the 2012 book, Parsi's thesis is that US-Iran relations are in a stalemate caused by institutionalized enmity: "The thirty-year-old US-Iran enmity is no longer a phenomenon; it is an institution." He argues that the way forth is through sustained diplomacy that he considers "the only policy that remains largely unexplored and that has a likelihood of achieving results amounting to more than kicking the can down the road."[22]
Julian Borger wrote inThe Guardian thatA Single Roll of the Dice is "A carefully balanced and thoroughly researched account of the tortured US-Iranian relationship in recent years."[23] L. Carl Brown fromForeign Affairs said the book is "the most incisive account available... eminently readable, sometimes gripping."[24]
Reviewing the book inThe Wall Street Journal,Sohrab Ahmari faults Parsi for failing to "re-examine U.S. policy and its underlying assumptions." Instead, he writes, "Quick to ascribe irrationality and bad faith to opponents of engagement, Mr. Parsi is charitable when it comes to examining the motivations of the Iranian side." In opposition to Parsi's position, Ahmari concludes, "Mr. Obama's engagement policy failed not because of Israeli connivance or because the administration did not try hard enough. The policy failed because the Iranian regime, when confronted by its own people or by outsiders, has only one way of responding: with a truncheon."[25]
A Single Roll of the Dice: Obama's Diplomacy with Iran was selected byForeign Affairs as the Best Book of 2012 on the Middle East.[8]
This book describes the course of the complex international negotiation that led to the conclusion in Vienna on July 14, 2015.[26]
Parsi has been a guest onThe Colbert Report andThe Daily Show with Jon Stewart.[27][28] Parsi has frequently appeared onC-SPAN to discuss the Iran nuclear deal and Middle Eastern politics.[29] Parsi also gave a widely viewedTed Talk on the possibility of peace between Iran and Israel. In the talk, Parsi "shows how an unlikely strategic alliance in the past [between Iran and Israel] could mean peace in the future for these two feuding countries."[30]
Parsi is a guest on news programs including CNN, PBSNewshour, NPR, BBC, and Al Jazeera.[31]
Parsi was born into aZoroastrian family,[3] and has identified as a Zoroastrian in his publications.[32]
Parsi is an Iranian-Swedish dual national and apermanent resident of the United States.[33] He is fluent inPersian,English, andSwedish.[5]
Parsi is married to Amina Semlali, a polyglot and human development specialist at theWorld Bank.[34] They are raising three children together.[35]
Trita Parsi was awarded the 2016 Alumni of the Year prize fromUppsala University.[36]
As a Zoroastrian (...)
I was born in Iran. I am a Swedish citizen ... I'm a [U.S.] green card holder.
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