Jonathan Panikoff is the director of the Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Program. A former career US intelligence officer, who served as the deputy national intelligence officer for the Near East at the National Intelligence Council (NIC) from 2015 to 2020. In this role, he represented the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) at the assistant secretary-level for interagency policy meetings, provided intelligence assessments to senior US policymakers on Middle East issues, and advised the director of national intelligence and ODNI leadership on the region.
Following his tenure on the NIC, Panikoff led the Intelligence Community’s (IC) analytic support to the US presidential transition, for which he served as the senior IC point of contact for all incoming cabinet secretary-level designates. Most recently, he served as director of ODNI’s Investment Security Group where he oversaw a team of twenty-six and led the IC’s efforts on foreign-investment reviews—most prominently for Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and Team Telecom issues—and supported the development of foreign allies’ investment review regimes. Previously, Panikoff was executive assistant to the deputy director of national intelligence where part of his responsibilities included preparing the deputy director to deliver the Presidential Daily Briefing.
Prior to joining ODNI, Panikoff led analysis on a variety of Middle East and counterterrorism issues at the Defense Intelligence Agency. Earlier in his career, he worked for a consultancy specializing in foreign corporate due diligence and risk avoidance and as a fellow at the US Mission to NATO. He lived in Israel during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War, conducting field research into the political dynamics of terrorist organizations.
Pezeshkian recognises that you can’t have better economic prosperity without sanctions relief, and that ultimately gets back to questions of security
In this episode of The International Risk Podcast, Jonathan and Dominic get into a conversation focusing on Iran’s recent election result. Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist candidate and former heart surgeon, has been elected as Iran’s new president in a run-off election held on 5 July. Pezeshkian defeated his hardline conservative rival, Saeed Jalili, in a closely watched race that followed the death of former president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May. The election was marked by low voter turnout, with only 39.96% of eligible voters participating in the first round on June 28. This low turnout reflects widespread apathy and dissatisfaction among Iranians, particularly young and middle-class citizens. Pezeshkian campaigned on a platform of “unity and cohesion” and pledged to end Iran’s “isolation” from the global community. He advocates for engaging in “constructive negotiations” with Western powers to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement. His victory represents a shift towards a more moderate approach in Iranian politics.