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Holly Dagres

  • Libitzky Family Senior Fellow
Also available in:
  • العربية

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  • Democracy & Reform
  • Iran
Holly Dagres
Download High-Resolution Portrait

Holly Dagres is the Libitzky Family Senior Fellow in The Washington Institute's Viterbi Program on Iran and U.S. Policy. Previously a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council's Middle East Programs, Dagres edited the IranSource and MENASource publications and led a working group on human rights, society, and the environment for the bipartisan report The Future of U.S. Strategy Toward Iran: A Roadmap for the Next Administration.

Dagres also curates The Iranist, a widely read weekly newsletter on Iran, and contributes to Operation Environment Watch. Her groundbreaking report, Iranians on #SocialMedia, and her TEDxTalk on the topic have established her as a leading voice on Iranian social movements and generational change. She has been featured in interviews across radio, television, and print, including the Associated Press, BBC News, CNN, NPR, Fox News, and The New York Times. Her work twice earned recognition on the Middle East Policy Council's "40 under 40" list.

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An Iranian-American who spent her teenage years in Iran and graduated from Tehran International School, Dagres returned to the United States to attend UCLA and later earned a master's degree from the American University in Cairo.

Education

M.A. in political science, The American University in Cairo; B.A. in political science and French, UCLA. 

Holly Dagres
Download High-Resolution Portrait

Recent Policy Analysis by Holly Dagres

Pakistani and Iranian foreign ministers exchange documents relating to a U.S.-Iranian memorandum of understanding in Islamabad - source: Reuters
Brief Analysis
A Postwar Middle East? The U.S.-Iran Negotiations and the Region’s Future
Jun 22, 2026
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  • Richard Nephew
  • Dennis Ross
  • Holly Dagres
A protester holds a #FreeIran banner in Berlin - source: Reuters
Articles & Testimony
Trump Told Iranians to Keep Protesting. Then He Abandoned Their Cause.
Jun 16, 2026
◆
  • Holly Dagres
A man manipulates cables on a bank of internet data servers - source: Reuters
Articles & Testimony
Iran’s Next Internet Blackout Is Inevitable
Jun 5, 2026
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  • Holly Dagres
Brief Analysis
For Iranians to Rise Up, a Clear Path for Regime Defectors Is Needed
May 13, 2026
◆
  • Holly Dagres
Articles & Testimony
What the Islamic Republic Learned About Repression From Syria
Mar 18, 2026
◆
  • Holly Dagres
A flight deck crewman directs operations of an F-35 jet on board the USS Abraham Lincoln - source: Department of Defense
Brief Analysis
The U.S. and Israel Strike Iran
Mar 2, 2026
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  • Holly Dagres
  • Dennis Ross
  • Dana Stroul
  • Robert Satloff
All Policy Analysis by Holly Dagres
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