Draft:Emad Kiyaei

Emad Kiyaei is an Iranian-South African author, lecturer, activist, storyteller, and researcher based in Paris, France. An expert in disarmament of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East and the creation of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction (WMDFZ), Emad has offered strategic advisory services to governments and multilateral diplomatic organisations since 2010. He is Director at the Middle East Treaty Organization (METO) and principal at IGD Group.

In addition to publishing widely in academic and mainstream press, Emad has made numerous media and film appearances. In "Bye-Bye New York," his The Moth 2018 GrandSLAM storytelling winner, he tells his story of youthful, optimistic immigration to America and his abrupt emigration 16 years later during the Trump Presidency. Based in Paris since 2019, while living in New York he was appointed Linowitz Professor of International Affairs at Hamilton College.

Early life and upbringing

Emad Kiyaei, Director of METO

Emad was born in Tehran, Iran in 1983 during the Iran-Iraq war. His early childhood experiences influenced Emad's lifelong interests in international affairs, diplomacy and conflict resolution.

He attended kindergarten and primary school from 1986 to 1991 in Lagos, Nigeria. He completed finished primary and secondary education from 1993 to 2001 in Cape Town and Stellenbosch, South Africa. Upon matriculating, he was offered a Rhodes Scholarship for undergraduate study at the University of Oxford, which he declined.

He moved to Long Island, New York to attend Stony Brook University in 2002, where he majored in international relations, economics and finance. He went on to earn a Masters in International Affairs at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs in 2009.

Career

Emad joined Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security (SGS) at the School of Public and International Affairs as a researcher after working at Columbia University’s Center for International Conflict Resolution (CICR) on diplomatic and civil society approaches to peacebuilding. In the course of his career, he has written two books, 15 academic articles and hundreds of pieces on the geopolitics of the Middle East for general audiences.

After leaving SGS, Emad served as the executive director of the American Iranian Council (AIC), a nonprofit organization that focuses on US-Iran relations. He provided strategic consultation to several United Nations Security Council members during the negotiations (2013-2016) on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (Iran nuclear deal).

Living in New York under the Trump Administration, Emad's request for US residency was declined after 16 years' residence in the US. He subsequently immigrated to France.

Emad continues to lecture on the Middle East and disarmament issues by invitation.

Publications and media

Peer-reviewed and academic articles

• “Non-proliferation and Regional Cooperation in the Middle East,” Brown Journal of World Affairs, January 2021 (co-author with Tony Robinson and Sharon Dolev).
• "Achieving the Possible: a WMD-free zone in the Middle East", Reaching Critical Will, November 2019 (co-author with Sharon Dolev and Dina Saadallah).
• "Middle East WMD-Free Zone: Thinking the Possible", The Cairo Review of Global Affairs, Fall 2019 (co-author with Paul Ingram).
• “Fissile Material Controls in the Middle East: Steps toward a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and all other Weapons of Mass Destruction,” International Panel on Fissile Materials, Princeton, October 2013, http://fissilematerials.org/library/rr11.pdf (co-authored with Frank von Hippel, Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Harold Feiveson, and Zia Mian).

Books

• A Middle East Free of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Routledge, April 2020. (co-authored with Seyed Hossein Mousavian)

The book addresses many of the critical issues that motivated the United Nations Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction in November 2019 ... suggests that the key factors [for failure to create a WMDFZ] include the lack of political will from regional states and world powers and disputes over the conditions under which a zone could be considered. Princeton University Science and Global Security Review

• Iran and the United States: An Insider’s view on the Failed Past and the Road to Peace, Seyed Hossein Mousavian, ed., Bloomsbury Academic, May 2014. (as contributor)
• The Iranian Nuclear Crisis: A Memoir, Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, June 2012. (as contributor)

News and opinion

Western media

• "America’s Last Best Hope for Defeating the Islamic State Is…Iran?" Emad Kiyaei, Foreign Policy, November 2014.
• "The Importance and Possibilities of Establishing a Weapons of Mass Destruction-Free Zone in the Middle East," U.S. Peace Council, October 2013.

Iranian media

• "America's Last Best Hope for Defeating the Islamic State Is...Iran?" Payvand. November 2014.
• “The need for strategic thinking in U.S.-Iran relations,” Tehran Times, April 2014.

Documentary film

Director-producer Alex Gibney invited Emad, as Executive Director of the American Iranian Council, to appear in the 2016 documentary film Zero Days. The documentary focused on Stuxnet, a piece of self-replicating computer malware that the U.S. and Israel released to destroy a key part of an Iranian nuclear facility, and which ultimately spread beyond its intended target. The film won a Peabody Award was nominated for 8 awards in the political documentary categories.

Media interviews

Emad has been regularly invited by mainstream and industry television and radio news to comment on current affairs in the Middle East and disarmament world, including Al Jazeera, BBC, Business Insider, CBS, France 24, IRNA, NPR, PBS, KCRW, and Turkish Radio Television.

• "Peacebuilding in the Middle East: Removing the threat of weapons of mass destruction," Middle East Matters, France 24, May 2021.
• "Iran 1952 to 2001," The Roots of Violence Episode 2, Pressenza, May 2021.
• "Bye-bye New York." (The Moth GrandSLAM winner). WBEZ Chicago, 2019.
• “What’s Really Going on in Iran.” Norman Stockwell, The Progressive, 2018.
• “Questions on Iran’s Nuclear Deal.” Imran Garda, Turkish Radio Television (TRT), 2016. (Turkey)
• “Inside the prison swap with Iran which freed Washington Post reporter.” Hariharan Sreenivasan, PBS, January 16, 2016.
• “Syrian Crisis—Solutions.” Richelle Carey, Al Jazeera, November 4, 2015.
• "On Netanyahu's address." NPR, March 2015.
• "In Talks with Iran, It's Another Day, Another Delay," To The Point with Warren Olney, KCRW Podcast, June 2015.
• "The Iranian nuclear negotiations," Al Jazeera America, January 2015.
• "Iran's Nuclear Talks," NPR, November 2014.
• “Exclusion of Iran from the Syrian peace talks.” Robert Klara, BBC Radio Five, January 21, 2014.
• “Iranian Group Will Be Taken Off Watch List.” Marc Lamont Hill, Huffington Post, September 2012.

Lectures, conferences and webinars

Research institutions and governmental organisations worldwide have invited Emad to speak and contribute at their events, notably the Afro-Middle East Center, Harvard University, International Peace Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United Nations, University of Chicago and Yale University. Selected conferences include:

• "The Future of the Iran Nuclear Deal and the NPT," Arms Control Association, October 2020.
• "The Breakdown of the Iran Deal – Global perspectives," United for Peace and Justice, March 2020.
• “Geopolitics, Nuclear Issues and the Middle East.” The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), New York, September 2016.
• “Conference on Establishing a Middle East WMD-Free Zone: Devising the Next Steps.” Center for Energy and Security Studies (CENESS) and the Russians Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Moscow, May 2016.
• “Peace Game: The Syrian Crisis.” Foreign Policy & the United States Institute of Peace, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, February 2016 and June 2014.
• “A new Middle East: Resetting the balance of power?” Afro-Middle East Center, Johannesburg, South Africa, December 2015.
• “8th Al Jazeera Forum: Change in the Arab World: Where To?” Al Jazeera Media Network, Doha, Qatar, May 2014.
• “Advancing a Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone in the Middle East.” Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, United Nations, New York, April 2014.
• “Steps Toward a Middle East WMD Free Zone.” UN Office of Disarmament Affairs, United Nations, New York, October 2013.
• “Creating a Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone in the Middle East,” Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security, United Nations Plaza, New York, October 17, 2012.
• “A Preemptive Strike on Iran? Economic and Geopolitical Consequences,” Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, New Haven, October 2012.
• “The Changing Middle East: Implications for Regional and Global Politics,” East-West Institute, New York, July 2012.
• “Responding to the Arab Spring: Enhancing Civil Society and Regional Intergovernmental Organizations Collaboration to Meet New Peace and Security Challenges.” Permanent Peace Movement, Beirut, Lebanon, June 2012.
• “Challenges in the U.S.-Iran Relationship, 2001-2009.” MIT, Boston, June 2012.
• “Breaking the Impasse Between Iran and the United States.” Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University, Washington D.C., May, 2012.
• “U.S.-Iran Relations in the Wake of the Arab Spring-Confrontation or Accommodation?” Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Chicago, Chicago, November 30, 2011.
• “Forthcoming Iranian parliamentary elections: Under the shadow of international sanctions and the threat of war.” Georgetown University, Washington D.C., February 2011.

Podcast

Emad was interviewed for METO's fortnightly podcast series, In The Zone, which explores constructive approaches to improve the chances of achieving a WMDFZ in the Middle East. The series features interviews with WMD disarmament experts on technical and political solutions to overcome obstacles, how to build trust between countries and more broadly how to improve peace and security for people in the region.