Edge Rewrite
everything Source code View original
// HTMLRewriter · presentation

This page was redesigned at the edge.

Cloudflare fetched the original article and streamed it through HTMLRewriter to apply an entirely new visual system without rebuilding the source page.

// request.cf · coarse context

A page that knows where it met you.

Only coarse request metadata is shown. This demo does not display or persist visitor IP addresses.

Country
US
Cloudflare location
CMH
Connection
HTTP/2
Language
Not provided

Ray ID: a407063a5b25a8fe

Jump to content

Mark Dubowitz

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mark Dubowitz
Born (1968-09-11) 11 September 1968 (age 58)
Johannesburg, South Africa
EducationJohns Hopkins University (MA)
University of Toronto (JD, MBA)
OccupationCEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Mark Dubowitz (born 11 September 1968) is a South African-born Canadian-American attorney and former venture capitalist, and CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a non-profit think-tank.[1] He is a proponent of sanctions against Iran[2] and was a leading critic of the Iran nuclear agreement, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. According to The New York Times, "Dubowitz’s campaign to draw attention to what he saw as the flaws in the Iran nuclear deal has taken its place among the most consequential ever undertaken by a Washington think tank leader."[3]

He was a leading critic of the Iran nuclear agreement, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, but then tried to save it after President Trump withdrew from the agreement according to his own account.[3]

Early life and education

[edit]

Dubowitz was born in Johannesburg in South Africa and raised in Toronto.[4] In 2015 he became a citizen of the United States.[5][6] He is Jewish and his great-grandparents fled the pogroms in the Russian Empire.[7][8]

Dubowitz earned a master's degree in international public policy from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, where he focused on China. He also earned a Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration from the University of Toronto.[9][10][11] He has also studied at Jerusalem's Hebrew University.[12] He spent the first 8 years after law school working on funding technology start-ups in Toronto, as an attorney and venture capitalist in Toronto.[9] One of the start-ups was DoubleClick, where he was the director of international business development.[13]

Career

[edit]

Dubowitz is the CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.[14] He co-founded FDD's Center on Economic and Financial Power and FDD's Center on Military and Political Power,[11] and is the author or co-author of more than twenty studies on economic sanctions.[15][11] He also is co-chair of the Project on U.S. Middle East Nonproliferation Strategy.[16]

He joined the FDD in 2003 and became an authority on international terrorism and sanctions against states that sponsor terrorism such as Iran and North Korea.[12] "I was a strange kid with an obsession with terrorism and plane hijackings. On September 11th it turned out that terrorism is not just an international problem, after it hit us at home," he told Ynet news. In 2003 I joined a small organization (FDD) despite not having any relevant political or policy experience and coming from a wholly different background."[12]

In 2025, he started a podcast called "The Iran Breakdown" where he speaks with prominent voices on Iran to discuss and analyze the fundamental dynamics[17] that shape the Islamic Republic. Notable guests included Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran,[18] Iranian activist Masih Alinejad,[19] and Urban warfare expert John Spencer.[20][21]

Dubowitz is a lecturer and senior research fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, where he teaches and conducts research on international negotiations, sanctions, and Iran's nuclear program.[22] In 2014, Dubowitz argued the U.S. and European sanctions against Russia were a warning, and not an attempt to reverse the occupation of Crimea quickly.[23][24] In 2017, Dubowitz and Jonathan Schanzer co-authored a Wall Street Journal opinion article advocating U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.[25][26]

Iran's Foreign Ministry sanctioned Dubowitz and the FDD on 24 August 2019, alleging that they participated in designing, imposing, and intensifying sanctions against Iran.[27][28][29] In a 2025 op-ed, Dubowitz and Ben Cohen argued that funding cuts to USAID would "bring accountability and efficiency", while preserving the soft power mission.[30][31]

Opposition to Iran nuclear deal and Iranian government

[edit]

According to The New York Times, "no one outside the Trump administration was a more persistent or effective critic [of the Iran nuclear agreement] than Mark Dubowitz".[3] As a vocal critic of the agreement, Dubowitz has stated that it did not address Iran's non-nuclear malign activity, such as its misappropriation of economic relief to fund terrorism, and "its lack of any limits on the regime’s ballistic missile program and its 'sunset provisions' that would allow Iran to increase its capacity to enrich uranium beginning seven years from now."[3] According to Politico, although Dubowitz "was an intense critic of the Iran deal," he "nonetheless advocated against scrapping it", instead stating that he wanted to fix it.[32][33]

He told Ynet in 2011 that at FDD they "closely monitor international companies that do business with Iran, invest in Iran's energy sector and provide important equipment and technologies to this sector.[12] They also monitor the movement of commercial vessels coming into and leaving Iran.[12]

In 2012, Dubowitz said the US Sanctions were threatening Iran's oil wealth and rattling their economy.[23][24] He criticised possible US sanctions concession, allowing foreign banks and governments to use the US-Dollar to conduct business with Iran in certain instances in 2016.[34]

Dubowitz opposed the Obama administration's nuclear diplomacy with Iran, testifying before Congress on several occasions against the nuclear talks, including to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (February 2014),[35] Senate Banking Committee (January 27, 2015),[36] House Financial Services Committee (July 22, 2015), the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (July 29, 2015),[37] Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (August 5, 2015),[38] and the House Ways and Means Committee (November 4, 2015).[39]

In June 2025, Dubowitz said that an International Atomic Energy Agency report showed that Iran was violating its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and preventing investigations of possible nuclear weaponisation work.[40] During the June 2025 conflict between Israel and Iran, Dubowitz said that Israel might lack the ordnance necessary to destroy Iran's underground Fordow enrichment facility and advocated U.S. assistance for an attack on the facility.[41][42]

Dubowitz authored or co-authored several op-eds on the Iran deal, published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.[43][44][45][46][47]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ "Mark Dubowitz".
  2. ↑ "U.S. Senators Pushing for Tougher Sanctions on Iran, to the Point of Bankruptcy". Haaretz. Associated Press. November 9, 2012. Archived from the original on January 27, 2016. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "He Was a Tireless Critic of the Iran Deal. Now He Insists He Wanted to Save It". The New York Times. 2018-05-13. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-05-14.
  4. ↑ Benhorin, Yitzhak (26 April 2011). The man who fights Iran Ynet. Retrieved on 5 June 2025
  5. ↑ "Mark Dubowitz". FDD. Retrieved 2025-04-26.
  6. ↑ Dubowitz, Mark (July 28, 2021). "How to Use Antisemitism Against Antisemites". SAPIR Journal. Retrieved 2025-04-26.
  7. ↑ (22 May 2025). "My great-grandparents were forced out of Russia before WWI to escape the anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire. As of today, I’m barred entry into Russia by Putin’s regime. Not much has changed in 130 years." X. Retrieved on 6 June 2025
  8. ↑ (13 October 2024). A very meaningful Yom Kippur yet…We prayed in synagogues protected by armed police officers with locked doors and members of the congregation carrying concealed weapons. America for Jews - 2024. X. Retrieved on 5 June 2025
  9. 1 2 Goodspeed, Peter (January 28, 2012). "Ratcheting Up The Hassle Factor; Expert sees sanctions against Iran wounding the regime by making it difficult to do business". National Post.
  10. ↑ "Master of Global Affairs". Munkschool.utoronto.ca. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 "FDD | Mark Dubowitz". FDD. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Benhorin, Yitzhak (26 April 2011). "The man who fights Iran". Ynetnews.
  13. ↑ "The man who fights Iran". Ynetnews. 2011-04-26. Retrieved 2026-08-14.
  14. ↑ "Iran-Sanctions Bid Targets Oil, Tanker Companies to Cut Exports". Bloomberg Businessweek. February 14, 2012. Archived from the original on February 16, 2012. Retrieved July 16, 2012.
  15. ↑ "Foundation for Defense of Democracies". Defenddemocracy.org. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
  16. ↑ "Press Release - Project on U.S. Middle East Nonproliferation Strategy | Institute for Science and International Security". Isis-online.org. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
  17. ↑ "The Iran Breakdown with Mark Dubowitz". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
  18. ↑ "Iran's President Says Iran Does Not Want the Nuclear Bomb. Who Believes That? » The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator | USA News and Politics". The American Spectator | USA News and Politics. 2025-04-11. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
  19. ↑ Kleinman, Danielle (2025-04-03). "Woman, Life, Freedom". FDD. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
  20. ↑ "No March on Teheran. The Military Logic of the Iran War (feat. John Spencer)". Retrieved 2026-07-17.
  21. ↑ "No March on Tehran: The Military Logic of the Iran War (feat. John Spencer)". Listen Notes. 2026-04-23. Retrieved 2026-07-17.
  22. ↑ "Mark Dubowitz - Master of Global Affairs". Munkschool.utoronto.ca. 2013-08-21. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
  23. 1 2 Zarroli, Jim (2014-03-19). "Western Sanctions On Russia Are 'A Shot Across The Bow'". VPM. Retrieved 2026-08-14.
  24. 1 2 "For the best way to punish Putin, listen to the guy who devised the sanctions on Iran". Quartz. 2014-03-17. Retrieved 2026-08-14.
  25. ↑ Dubowitz, Jonathan Schanzer and Mark (2017-02-16). "Standing With Israel on the Golan Heights". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2026-08-14.
  26. ↑ Gilsinan, Kathy (2019-03-21). "Trump's Golan Announcement Was No Impulse Tweet". Defense One. Retrieved 2026-08-14.
  27. ↑ "Foreign Ministry Blacklists 'Foundation for Defence of Democracies'". Islamic Republic of Iran: Ministry of Foreign Affairs. August 24, 2019.
  28. ↑ Gilsinan, Kathy (2019-08-29). "Iran's Enemy du Jour: A Guy Who Runs a Think Tank". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2026-08-14.
  29. ↑ Farda, Radio (2019-08-25). "Iran 'Sanctions' American Think Tank Critical Of Islamic Republic". Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Retrieved 2026-08-14.
  30. ↑ Rod, Marc (2025-02-05). "Middle East experts split over recent moves to slash U.S. foreign aid, USAID". Jewish Insider. Retrieved 2026-09-02.
  31. ↑ "USAID was rotten, but Trump needs the 'soft power' of foreign aid done right". 2025-02-04. Retrieved 2026-09-02.
  32. ↑ Nelson, Louis (21 May 2018). "Pompeo threatens Iran with 'strongest sanctions in history'". POLITICO. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  33. ↑ Gardiner, Harris (2018-05-13). "A Tireless Critic of the Iran Deal Now He Insists He Wanted to Save It". WRAL.com. Retrieved 2026-09-02.
  34. ↑ "New U.S. sanctions concession to Iran may be in works: AP - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. 2016-03-31. Retrieved 2026-09-02.
  35. ↑ "Dubowitz prepared testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee" (PDF). Senate Foreign Relations Committee website. February 4, 2014. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
  36. ↑ "Dubowitz prepared testimony to the Senate Banking Committee" (PDF). Oranwatch.org. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
  37. ↑ "Congressional Testimony: The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action" (PDF). Foreign.senate.gov. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
  38. ↑ "Testimony: Foundation for Defense of Democracies". Defenddemocracy.org. Retrieved 2015-12-24.
  39. ↑ "Testimony: Foundation for Defense of Democracies". Defenddemocracy.org. Retrieved 2015-12-24.
  40. ↑ "Clock is ticking on U.S. nuclear proposal to Iran, as Israel mulls military strikes - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. 2025-06-12. Retrieved 2026-09-02.
  41. ↑ "Damage to Iran's nuclear sites so far appears limited, experts say". The Straits Times. 2025-06-13. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 2026-09-02.
  42. ↑ Gabbatt, Adam (2025-06-29). "How Fox News helped champion Trump's attacks on Iran: 'I agree with the president'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-09-02.
  43. ↑ Marc, Reuel (2015-07-08). "The Iranian Nuclear Paradox". WSJ.com. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
  44. ↑ Gerecht, Reuel Marc; Dubowitz, Mark (19 November 2011). "Don't Give Up on Sanctions". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
  45. ↑ Marc, Reuel (2015-04-03). "Reuel Marc Gerecht and Mark Dubowitz: Iran's Negotiating Triumph Over Obama and America". WSJ.com. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
  46. ↑ "How to Get a Better Deal With Iran". Foreign Policy. 2015-08-17. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
  47. ↑ "Amend Iran deal to improve it: Opposing view". Usat.ly. 2015-08-05. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mark_Dubowitz&oldid=1372833328"