Sahar Nowrouzzadeh is an American civil servant. She worked for the

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

since 2005, particularly on issues relating to

Iran–United States relations Relations between Iran and the United States began in the mid-to-late 19th century, when Iran was known to the Western world as Qajar Persia. Persia was very wary of British and Russian colonial interests during the Great Game. By contrast, the ...

, including negotiation and implementation of the

Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA; (, BARJAM)), also known as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal, is an agreement to limit the Iranian nuclear program in return for sanctions relief and other provisions. The agreement was finalize ...

Early life

Nowrouzzadeh was born in 1982 in

Trumbull, Connecticut Trumbull is a New England town, town located in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Greater Bridgeport Planning Region, Connecticut, Greater Bridgeport Planning Region, and borders on the cities of Bridgeport, Co ...

, to parents who had immigrated from

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. At the time of her birth, her father was conducting a

medical residency Residency or postgraduate training is a stage of graduate medical education. It refers to a qualified physician (one who holds the degree of MD, DO, MBBS/MBChB), veterinarian ( DVM/VMD, BVSc/BVMS), dentist ( DDS or DMD), podiatrist ( DPM), o ...

Bridgeport Hospital Bridgeport Hospital is a not-for-profit general medical and surgical hospital in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It is a member of Yale New Haven Health System and affiliated with Yale School of Medicine. During 2018, Bridgeport Hospital received pr ...

to become an OB-GYN. As a child, she was not very interested in politics. However, following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, her interest in Middle Eastern affairs grew. She studied at the

Elliott School of International Affairs The Elliott School of International Affairs (known as the Elliott School or ESIA) is the professional school of international relations, foreign policy, and international development of the George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. It is ...

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

, followed by the University of Maryland-College Park. She became fluent in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, as well as

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

Career

Nowrouzzadeh began her career as a civil servant at the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

in 2005. She was Director for Iran at the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a n ...

from 2014 to 2016. She was considered instrumental in the negotiation and implementation of the Iran Nuclear Deal. She is the recipient the State Department

Superior Honor Award The Superior Honor Award is an award of the United States Department of State. Similar versions of the same award exist for the former U.S. Information Agency, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and USAID. It is presented to groups or individ ...

, a

National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation The National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation (NIMUC) is an award of the National Intelligence Awards Program, for contributions to the United States Intelligence Community. It may be "...awarded for the collective performance of a unit or g ...

and the

Secretary of Defense Medal for the Global War on Terrorism The Secretary of Defense Medal for the Global War on Terrorism or Global War on Terrorism Civilian Service Medal is a medal awarded by the United States Department of Defense. It was authorized on August 9, 2007, but may be awarded for expeditiona ...

. Nowrouzzadeh gained national media attention in 2017 when she was demoted during the administration of President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. In 2019, a State Department Inspector General investigation confirmed that Nowrouzzadeh's demotion was due to her perceived personal political views and heritage. Nowrouzzadeh had previously been the subject of an article in the

Conservative Review The ''Conservative Review'' is an American website and brand owned and operated by Blaze Media. It was founded in 2014 by a group of conservative political operatives. The site's stated goal is to "cut through the talking points and the smoke a ...

, a right-wing website that falsely claimed she was born in Iran, and made other false and disparaging comments about her. The article was passed around the State Department. Nowrouzzadeh reported the issue to her supervisor,

Brian Hook Brian H. Hook (born 1968) is an American diplomat, lawyer and government official. In 2021, he joined Cerberus Capital Management as vice chairman for global investments. He is an adjunct professor at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Po ...

, but he failed to adequately respond and was found to be among the Trump administration officials who decided to abruptly reassign her. While on sabbatical from the State Department, Nowrouzzadeh was a

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

at the

Harvard Kennedy School The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

from 2017 to 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nowrouzzadeh, Sahar 1982 births Living people People from Trumbull, Connecticut American people of Iranian descent Women diplomats for the United States Diplomats for the United States Elliott School of International Affairs alumni George Washington University alumni University of Maryland, College Park alumni Harvard Kennedy School people Iran–United States relations