Mohammad Marandi

Seyed Mohammad Marandi (born 14 May 1966) is an Iranian-American academic, intellectual and political analyst. He is closely linked to the Iranian government.

He was born in Richmond, Virginia, United States to Alireza Marandi, later the doctor of the second supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ali Khamenei. Mohammad Marandi moved to Iran at the age of 13 when he volunteered to fight in the Iran–Iraq War. Marandi later studied at Birmingham University, England. He currently serves as a professor at the University of Tehran.

Early life and education Seyed Mohammad Marandi was born on 14 May 1966 in Richmond, Virginia. He is the son of Alireza Marandi, who would later become Iran's Health Minister and doctor of the Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Marandi is a graduate of the University of Tehran and Birmingham University (UK), where his PhD thesis was entitled "Lord Byron, his critics and Orientalism", described as a "response to Edward Said's Orientalism".

Career Marandi was the head of the North American Studies program at the University of Tehran;

Marandi has appeared as a political and social commentator on international news networks such as Channel 4, Sky News, PBS, ABC, CGTN, CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, and RT. He has also contributed opinion pieces to publications such as Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye, and Tehran Times.

He is an adviser to the Iranian nuclear negotiations team in Vienna. Marandi has close links to the Iranian government. Iran International describes him as a "mouthpiece" of the Iranian government. Marandi's statement referred to the United States Department of Justice's allegation that Iran had planned to assassinate US national security advisor John Bolton in 2020.

Marandi has been noted for not being overly concerned about UN resolutions against Iran. According to a tweet by the Twitter account of reformist daily Shargh posted on 28 December 2021, Marandi stated:

On 1 October 2024, Marandi said on BBC's Today programme, that the Israeli government was a "genocidal regime" that was committing a "holocaust in Gaza", and "believes in ethno-supremacism". The Jewish Leadership Council and Simon Schama criticized the comments as antisemitic, while pro-Israeli organization CAMERA described Marandi's comments as "racist rant and redundant claims of 'genocide'."

Written works

"Oppressors and Oppressed Reconsidered: A Shi‘itologic Perspective on the Islamic Republic of Iran and Hezbollah’s Outlook on International Relations" (with Raffaele Mauriello) in Islam and International Relations: Contributions to Theory and Practice, Springer, 2015, pp. 50–71. "The Khamenei Doctrine: Iran's Leader on Diplomacy, Foreign Policy and International Relations" (with Raffaele Mauriello) in Islam in International Relations: Politics and Paradigms, Routledge, 2018, pp. 18–38.