Naysan Rafati is Crisis Group’s Iran Senior Analyst. His research is focused on the Iran nuclear deal and Iran’s regional policies. He joined the organisation in October 2017 and is based in Washington.

Prior to joining Crisis Group, Naysan was a Transatlantic Postdoctoral Fellow in International Relations and Security (TAPIR) at the RAND Corporation, the United States Institute of Peace, and the Institut français des relations internationales.

He holds MSt and DPhil degrees in Oriental Studies from St Antony’s College, Oxford, where he was awarded the Albert Hourani and Jenkins Memorial Scholarships and taught various courses on Middle East politics and history. He received his BA magna cum laude from Yale.

• English
• Persian
• Arabic
• Hebrew

Naysan has written for a variety of publications including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Le Monde Diplomatique (English), and the Financial Times.