Esfandyar Batmanghelidj

Chief Executive Officer

Email: yar [at] bourseandbazaar.org

Esfandyar Batmanghelidj is the founder and CEO of the Bourse & Bazaar Foundation, a think tank focused on economic diplomacy, economic development, and economic justice in West Asia. He has published peer reviewed research on Iranian political economy, social history, and public health, as well as commentary on Iranian politics and economics. Esfandyar has also conducted innovative research on the effects of sanctions on targeted economies and is an Adjunct Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna, where he teaches a course titled “Sanctions and Their Effects.” He was a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on the Future of Growth for the term of 2023-2024. From 2021-2022, Esfandyar was a visiting fellow with the Middle East and North Africa programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations. From 2018-2020, he was a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion, writing on Middle East politics and economics. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and Middle Eastern studies from Columbia University and an executive master’s in public administration from the London School of Economics.

Selected Publications:

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

• Batmanghelidj, Esfandyar. 2024. “Resistance Is Simple, Resilience Is Complex: Sanctions and the Composition of Iranian Trade.” Middle East Development Journal, December, 1–19. doi:10.1080/17938120.2024.2417624.

• Batmanghelidj, Esfandyar. “Countering Sanctions: New Economic and Trade Prospects.” In Struggle for Alliance: Russia and Iran in the Era of War in Ukraine. edited by Abdolrasool Divsallar. London: I.B. Tauris, 2024. https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/struggle-for-alliance-9780755653508/

• Farzanegan, Mohammad Reza and Batmanghelidj, Esfandyar. ‘Understanding Economic Sanctions on Iran: A Survey’. The Economists’ Voice, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1515/ev-2023-0014

• Batmanghelidj, Esfandyar. ‘Iran’s “Eastward Turn” in a Turning World: Reassessing Sanctions as a Driver of China-Iran Trade’. In China’s Economic and Political Presence in the Middle East and South Asia. Durham Modern Middle East and Islamic World Series. Routledge, 2023. https://www.routledge.com/Chinas-Economic-and-Political-Presence-in-the-Middle-East-and-South-Asia/Haghirian-Zaccara/p/book/9781032216041.

• Batmanghelidj, Esfandyar, and Mahsa Rouhi. ‘The Iran Nuclear Deal and Sanctions Relief: Implications for US Policy’. Survival 63, no. 4 (2021): 183–98. https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2021.1956192.

• Batmanghelidj, Esfandyar. ‘The Ins and Outs of Iranian Industrial Resilience under Sanctions’. The Muslim World 111, no. 1 (2021): 96–112. https://doi.org/10.1111/muwo.12374.

• Batmanghelidj, Esfandyar. ‘From Tobacco Revolt to Youth Rebellion: A Social History of the Cigarette in Iran’. Iranian Studies 49, no. 1 (2016): 99–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/00210862.2014.963995.

• Batmanghelidj, Esfandyar. ‘Smoking in Iran.’ Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition (2013) http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/smoking-in-iran

• Heydari, G et al. ‘Dual addictions, parallel treatments: nicotine replacement therapy for patients receiving methadone treatment in the Islamic Republic of Iran’. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal vol. 19 Suppl 3 S25-31. (2014) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24995756/

• Batmanghelidj, Esfandyar. ‘Sanctions, Smuggling, and the Cigarette: The Granting of Iran OFAC Licenses to Big Tobacco’. Iranian Studies 45, no. 3 (2012): 395–415. https://doi.org/10.1080/00210862.2011.637768.

Analytical Articles

• Esfandyar Batmanghelidj and Zep Kalb. ‘Coercion and Inequality: The Distributional Effects of Sanctions in Iran’. Phenomenal World, 24 Aug. 2023, https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/iran-sanctions-inequality/

• Esfandyar Batmanghelidj. ‘How Sanctions Hurt Iran’s Protesters: They Need Money to Build a Movement’. Foreign Affairs, 4 Apr. 2023, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/how-sanctions-hurt-irans-protesters

• Esfandyar Batmanghelidj and Zep Kalb. ‘Why Won’t the Workers of Iran Unite?’. Foreign Policy, 3 November 2022. https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/11/03/iran-workers-general-strike-oil-protests/.

• Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, and Erica Moret. ‘The Hidden Toll of Sanctions: Why Washington Must Reckon With the Devastating Inflation Its Policies Cause’. Foreign Affairs, 17 Jan. 2022, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2022-01-17/hidden-toll-sanctions.

• Lucille Greer and Esfandyar Batmanghelidj. ‘China and Iran Announced a New Economic and Security Partnership. That’s Not as Alarming as It Sounds.’ Washington Post, 1 April 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/04/01/china-iran-announced-new-economic-security-partnership-thats-not-alarming-it-sounds/.

• Esfandyar Batmanghelidj and Sahil Shah. ‘Three Solutions to Biden’s Nuclear Stalemate with Iran’. Politico, 5 February 2021. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/02/05/biden-nuclear-iran-foreign-policy-466120.

• Ellie Geranmayeh and Esfandyar Batmanghelidj. ‘Biden Should Look beyond Leverage to Rejoin the Iran Deal’. CNN, 26 January 2021. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/26/opinions/biden-should-look-beyond-leverage-to-rejoin-the-iran-deal-geranmayeh-batmanghelidj/index.html.

• Esfandyar Batmanghelidj and Oybek Shaykov. ‘The Boycott on Uzbek Cotton Needs to End’. Foreign Policy, 28 March 2020. https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/28/international-cotton-boycott-uzbekistan/.

• Esfandyar Batmanghelidj and Abbas Kebriaeezadeh. ‘As Coronavirus Spreads, Iranian Doctors Fear the Worst’. Foreign Policy, 3 March 2020. https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/03/iran-coronavirus-spreads-sanctions-covid19-iranian-doctors-fear-worst/.

• Esfandyar Batmanghelidj and Nicholas Mulder. ‘Lifting Sanctions Isn’t as Simple as It Sounds’. Foreign Policy, 15 April 2019. https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/04/15/lifting-sanctions-isnt-as-simple-as-it-sounds-sudan-iran-bashir-rouhani-obama-trump-jcpoa-reconstruction/.

• Esfandyar Batmanghelidj. ‘How Iran Smuggles Its Smokes’. Roads & Kingdoms, 17 March 2014. https://roadsandkingdoms.com/2014/how-iran-smuggles-its-smokes/.

Think Tank Reports

• Esfandyar Batmanghelidj. ‘The Inflation Weapon: How American Sanctions Harm Iranian Households’. Sanctions and Security Research Project, January 2022. https://sanctionsandsecurity.org/publications/the-inflation-weapon-how-american-sanctions-harm-iranian-households/.

• Batmanghelidj, Esfandyar, et al. ‘Using “Technical Guarantees” to Restore and Sustain the Iran Nuclear Deal’. European Leadership Network, 24 Nov. 2021, https://www.europeanleadershipnetwork.org/policy-brief/using-technical-guarantees-to-restore-and-sustain-the-iran-nuclear-deal/.

• Batmanghelidj, Esfandyar. ‘Economic Distress and Voter Turnout in the Iranian Elections’. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 26 May 2021, https://www.fes.de/en/referat-naher-mittlerer-osten-und-nordafrika/iran-elections/artikelseite-iranelections/wirtschaftskrise-und-wahlbeteiligung-in-iran.

• Esfandyar Batmanghelidj. ‘Resistance Is Simple, Resilience Is Complex: Sanctions and the Composition of Iranian Trade’. John Hopkins SAIS, December 2020. https://www.rethinkingiran.com/iranundersanctions/batmanghelidj.

• Lucille Greer and Esfandyar Batmanghelidj. ‘Last Among Equals: The China-Iran Partnership in a Regional Context’. Wilson Center, September 2020. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/last-among-equals-china-iran-partnership-regional-context.

• Esfandyar Batmanghelidj and Sahil Shah. ‘Protecting Europe-Iran Trade to Prevent War: A Provisional Assessment of INSTEX’. European Leadership Network, June 2019. https://www.europeanleadershipnetwork.org/policy-brief/protecting-europe-iran-trade-to-prevent-war-a-provisional-assessment-of-instex/.

• Esfandyar Batmanghelidj and Axel Hellman. ‘Mitigating US Sanctions on Iran: The Case for a Humanitarian Special Purpose Vehicle’. European Leadership Network, November 2018. https://www.europeanleadershipnetwork.org/policy-brief/mitigating-us-sanctions-on-iran-the-case-for-a-humanitarian-special-purpose-vehicle/.

Book Reviews

• Esfandyar Batmanghelidj. ‘The Sanctions Age’. Phenomenal World, 18 Feb. 2023, https://www.phenomenalworld.org/reviews/the-sanctions-age/.

• Esfandyar Batmanghelidj. ‘Is the West Laissez-Faire about Economic Warfare?’. War on the Rocks, 11 Mar. 2022, https://warontherocks.com/2022/03/is-the-west-laissez-faire-about-economic-warfare/