Panel Discussion on Iran’s Current Economic, Political, and Environmental Situation

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2025
4:00 PM PST

NOW ONLINE ONLY

To watch on Zoom: https://ucla.zoom.us/j/97789716771

Panelists Include:

Iran’s Water Crisis: Current Realities and Preconditions for Solutions

Amir AghaKouchak is a Chancellor’s Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine. He also serves as Director of UC Irvine’s Center for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing (CHRS), where his team develops innovative tools for monitoring and modeling hydrologic extremes. In addition, he is the Lead for Water, Climate, and Infrastructure Risk at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), contributing to global efforts on sustainable water management and climate resilience. His research focuses on natural hazards and climate extremes, bridging the disciplines of hydrology, climatology, and remote sensing. A central theme of his work is the study of interactions among climatic and non-climatic hazards, particularly compound and cascading events. Dr. AghaKouchak has published over 270 peer-reviewed journal articles and has received numerous honors, including the AGU James B. Macelwane Medal, AGU Fellow, ASCE EWRI Fellow, ASCE Norman Medal and ASCE Huber Research Prize.

Iran’s Perilous Political Landscape: Domestic and International Challenges

Mehrzad Boroujerdi is Vice Provost and Dean of College of Arts, Sciences, and Education at Missouri University of Science and Technology. Previously he was a Professor of Government and International Affairs and Director of the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech, Professor of Political Science at Syracuse University, and President of the Association for Iranian Studies.  Dr. Boroujerdi earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Boston University, his master’s degree in political science from Northeastern University, and his Ph.D. in international relations from The American University (Washington, D.C.). He has been a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, a visiting scholar at UCLA, and a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute (Washington, D.C.).

From Critical to Hypercritical: Economy of Iran after the Iran-Israel War

Nader Habibi is the Henry J. Leir Professor of Practice in the Economics of the Middle East at Brandeis University’s Crown Center for Middle East Studies. Before joining Brandeis University in June 2007, he served as managing director of economic forecasting and risk analysis for Middle East and North Africa in Global Insight Ltd. Mr. Habibi has worked in academic and research institutions in Iran, Turkey and the United States since 1987. He earned a master’s degree in systems engineering, and a PhD in Economics from Michigan State University. His most recent research projects are a) Economic relations of Middle Eastern countries with China, b) Economic and social conditions of Kurdish regions in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey, and c) Economic relations of Turkey with Iran and Arab countries. Habibi served as director of Islamic and Middle East Studies at Brandeis University (August 2014-August 2019). Links to his publications are available at https://naderhabibi.blogspot.com/.

Event in Persian, moderated by Nayereh Tohidi (California State University, Northridge)

This event is made possible with the co-sponsorship of the UCLA Program of Iranian Studies and the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies, as well as with the major support of the Amuzegar Chair in Iranian and the Musa Sabi Term Chair of Iranian Studies.