Sanam Vakil

Biography

Dr Sanam Vakil is the director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme. She was previously the Programme’s deputy director and senior research fellow, and led project work on Iran and Gulf Arab dynamics.

Sanam’s research focuses on regional security, Gulf geopolitics, and on future trends in Iran’s domestic and foreign policy.

She is also the James Anderson professorial lecturer in the Middle East Studies department at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS Europe) in Bologna, Italy.

Before these appointments, Sanam was an assistant professor of Middle East Studies at SAIS Washington. She served as a research associate at the Council on Foreign Relations also providing research analysis to the World Bank’s Middle East and North Africa department.

Sanam is the author of Action and Reaction: Women and Politics in Iran (Bloomsbury 2013). She publishes analysis and comments for a variety of media and academic outlets.

Sanam received her BA in political science and history from Barnard College, Columbia University and her MA/PhD in international relations and international economics from Johns Hopkins University.

Past experience

2019-23	Deputy Director and Senior Research Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House
2008 - present	Professorial lecturer, Johns Hopkins University - SAIS Europe
2011-13	Senior Research Associate, Management Systems International
2005-07	Assistant Professor, Middle East Studies, Johns Hopkins University – SAIS Washington
2004-05	Research assistant, Iran Project, Council on Foreign Relations

Latest content

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Israel’s prime minister offered little hope for Americans seeking a swift end to the war – and gave no detail on a dignified future for Palestinians.

Direct clashes between Israel and Iran have brought the Middle East to the brink of a regional war. Will both sides de-escalate or have tensions reached the point of no return?

The strikes demonstrated a more assertive approach from Tehran, but the region’s security now depends on Israel’s ability to play a longer game.

In the news

The killing of the US soldiers adds “further anxiety that a regional war is actually here,” said Sanam Vakil.

Sanam Vakil speaks to Christiane Amanpour on the deep concern that Israel’s Gaza war could expand to Lebanon.

Sanam Vakil on the deadly drone strike in Jordan and a response expected by the US.

How the United Arab Emirates is plotting its rise.

Sanam Vakil speaks to Channel 4 news on women in Iran.

The release of prisoners and anniversary of the killing of Mahsa Amini highlight a failure to solve the challenges from Tehran.

Sanam Vakil, deputy head of the Middle East North Africa program at Chatham House, discusses the country’s patriarchal system.

An Embattled Regime Faces Mass Protests—and an Ailing Supreme Leader.

If no deal is made, Iran’s acceleration of its nuclear program, alongside ongoing regional violence, would certainly continue if not increase.

While the talks put the respective leaders in the spotlight, the implications for regional stability, economic cooperation, food security and the war in Ukraine remain opaque, write Sanam Vakil and Galip Dalay.