Mehdi Khalaji

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Mehdi Khalaji (b.1973) is an Iranian journalist and political analyst.

He has studied Islamic theology in Qom seminary and Philosophy in Tarbiat Modarres University.

Later on he became a senior editor at Entekhab [1], a daily newspaper published in Tehran by The Islamic Propagation Office of the Islamic Seminary of Qom. Entekhab's publisher was Taha Hashemi, a close advisor[2] to Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, and a board member on The Islamic Propagation Office of the Islamic Seminary of Qom.

He is currently a visiting scholar at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Khalaji wrote pieces for Daily Star and BBC Persian service. For thee years, he also wrote in his Persian weblog, Ketabcheh.

Khalaji is an opponent of the direct negotiations between U.S. and Iran. In a recent article [3] he wrote:

Negotiations between the United States and Iran under current circumstances run the risk of negatively affecting the U.S. image in Iran and hampering the democratic process there. If Washington ignores the autocratic nature of the Iranian regime and sits at the negotiating table to discuss its concerns with Iranian officials -- the nuclear program, financial support for terrorism, and Iran's opposition to the Middle East peace process -- this would create an image of U.S. opportunism in Iran.

In November 2006, he appeared on a panel run by American Foreign Policy Council, titled "Understanding the Iranian Threat", along with James Woosley, Ilan Berman, and Patrick Clawson. The video of his presentation is avilable: Part one, Part two.