Mark Dubowitz (born 11 September 1968) is a South African-born Canadian-American attorney and former

venture capitalist Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number ...

, currently serving as CEO of the

Foundation for Defense of Democracies The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) is a Neoconservatism, neoconservative 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) non-profit think tank based in Washington, D.C., United States. It has also been described as a pro-Israel, anti-Iran lobby gr ...

, a non-profit think-tank. He is a proponent of

sanctions against Iran There have been a number of international sanctions against Iran imposed by a number of countries, especially the United States, and international entities. Iran was the most sanctioned country in the world until it was surpassed by Russia, follo ...

and was a leading critic of the Iran nuclear agreement, officially called 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 ...

. According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', "Mark Dubowitz’s campaign to draw attention to what he saw as the flaws in the Iran nuclear deal has taken its place among the most consequential ever undertaken by a Washington think tank leader." He was a leading critic of the Iran nuclear agreement,

, but then tried to save it after President Trump withdrew from the agreement according to his own account.

Early life and education

Dubowitz was born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and raised in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. In 2015 he became a citizen of the United States. He is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and his great-grandparents fled the

Pogroms in the Russian Empire Pogroms in the Russian Empire () were large-scale, targeted, and repeated Antisemitism, anti-Jewish riots that began in the 19th century. Pogroms began to occur after Russian Empire, Imperial Russia, which previously had very few Jews, acquired te ...

. Dubowitz earned a master's degree in international public policy from the

Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies The School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a graduate school of Johns Hopkins University based in Washington, D.C. The school also maintains campuses in Bologna, Italy and Nanjing, China. The school is devoted to the study of int ...

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

, where he focused on China. He also earned a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

and

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. He has also studied at Jerusalem's

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. It is the second-ol ...

. He spent the first 8 years after law school working on funding technology start-ups in Toronto, as an attorney and venture capitalist in Toronto.

Career

Dubowitz is the CEO of the

. He co-founded FDD's Center on Economic and Financial Power and FDD's Center on Military and Political Power, and is the author or co-author of more than twenty studies on economic sanctions. He also is co-chair of the Project on U.S. Middle East Nonproliferation Strategy. He joined the FDD in 2003 and became an authority on international terrorism and sanctions against states that sponsor terrorism such as Iran and North Korea. "I was a strange kid with an obsession with terrorism and plane hijackings. On September 11th it turned out that terrorism is not just an international problem, after it hit us at home," he told Ynet news. In 2003 I joined a small organization (FDD) despite not having any relevant political or policy experience and coming from a wholly different background." In 2025, he released a podcast miniseries called "The Iran Breakdown" where he speaks with prominent voices on Iran to discuss and analyze the fundamental dynamics that shape the

Islamic Republic The term Islamic republic has been used in different ways. Some Muslim religious leaders have used it as the name for a form of Islamic theocratic government enforcing sharia, or laws compatible with sharia. The term has also been used for a s ...

. Notable guests included

Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran Reza Pahlavi (; born 31 October 1960) is the eldest son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran of the roughly 53-year old Pahlavi dynasty, and his third wife Farah Diba. He was officially named Pahlavi dynasty, Crown Prince of Pahla ...

, and Iranian activist

Masih Alinejad Masih Alinejad (, born Masoumeh Alinejad-Ghomikolayi (), September 11, 1976) is an Iranian Americans, Iranian-American journalist, author, and women's rights activist. Alinejad works as a presenter/producer at Voice of America Persian News Networ ...

. Dubowitz is a lecturer and senior research fellow at the

Munk School of Global Affairs The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto is an interdisciplinary academic centre located at the St. George campus in Downtown Toronto. It offers various research and educational programs in global affairs ...

at the University of Toronto, where he teaches and conducts research on international negotiations, sanctions, and Iran's nuclear program. He is currently sanctioned by the Iranian government.

Opposition to Iran nuclear deal

According to ''The New York Times'', "no one outside the Trump administration was a more persistent or effective critic f the Iran nuclear agreementthan Mark Dubowitz". As a vocal critic of the agreement, Dubowitz has stated that it did not address Iran's non-nuclear malign activity, such as its misappropriation of economic relief to fund terrorism, and "its lack of any limits on the regime’s ballistic missile program and its 'sunset provisions' that would allow Iran to increase its capacity to enrich uranium beginning seven years from now." According to ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...

'', although Dubowitz "was an intense critic of the Iran deal," he "nonetheless advocated against scrapping it." He told

Ynet Ynet (stylized in all lowercase) is an Israeli news and general-content website, and the online outlet for the '' Yedioth Ahronoth'' newspaper. History Ynet launched on June 6, 2000, in Hebrew, following other Hebrew outlet's website launches ...

in 2011 that at FDD they "closely monitor international companies that do business with Iran, invest in Iran's energy sector and provide important equipment and technologies to this sector. They also monitor the movement of commercial vessels coming into and leaving Iran. Dubowitz opposed the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

's nuclear diplomacy with Iran, testifying before Congress on several occasions against the nuclear talks, including to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (February 2014), Senate Banking Committee (January 27, 2015), House Financial Services Committee (July 22, 2015), the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (July 29, 2015), Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (August 5, 2015), and the House Ways and Means Committee (November 4, 2015). Dubowitz authored or co-authored several op-eds on the Iran deal, published in ''The New York Times'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', and ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

''.

References

External links

FDD Bio Page

Mark Dubowitz Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dubowitz, Mark 1968 births Living people Jewish American activists Activists from Toronto Activists from Johannesburg Lawyers from Johannesburg Lawyers from Toronto American people of South African-Jewish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent Canadian people of Russian-Jewish descent South African emigrants to Canada Canadian expatriates in the United States University of Toronto alumni Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies alumni American venture capitalists American chief executives