Arash Reisinezhad is Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Tehran. His current area of research explores the influence of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on power arrangements in the Middle East, as well as the impact of Iran’s strategic relations with non-state actors in the geopolitics of West Asia. Arash received his PhD from Florida International University (FIU), where he was awarded the best PhD dissertation at the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs, FIU.

His book The Shah of Iran, the Iraqi Kurds, and the Lebanese Shia was published by Palgrave-MacMillan in 2018 and sets out a new understanding of Pahlavi Iran’s strategic ties with military and political non-state actors in the region to contain international and regional threats of Communism and Pan-Arabism.

Reisinezhad has worked with several private and public entities, including the Tehran Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Sharif Policy Research Institute, and the Center for Central Eurasian Studies, managing multi-stakeholder research projects related to China’s policy in West Asia, energy security, and political risk analysis in the region. He has over 10 years of experience consulting for different academic institutes, businesses, think tanks and consultancies such as the Center for International Studies of Sciences Po, the Mohsin and Fauzia Jaffer Foundation, the University of Tehran and various entities in the Middle East.