Nazanin Boniadi, Kari Sadjadpour and Amna Nawaz @ Chautauqua Institution
Continuing Chautauqua’s exploration of “Global Power and Our Evolving International Order,” “PBS News Hour” co-anchor Amna Nawaz hosts a special onstage conversation between actress and activist Nazanin Boniadi and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace senior fellow Karim Sadjadpour. Both have Iranian roots and Nawaz will engage them on their lives and their families, their respective areas of work, and, whatever the status of world events at that moment, their perspectives on the state of Iran, the Iranian people, and what comes next.
Nazanin Boniadi is an Iranian-born, SAG and AACTA Award-nominated actress, producer and human rights advocate. Her television credits include “Homeland,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Counterpart,” and the first season of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” In film, Boniadi won acclaim for her memorable role in “Bombshell” and leading role in “Hotel Mumbai.” Her producing debut, “A Mosquito in the Ear,” in which she stars alongside Jake Lacy, won the Panavision Spirit Award at the 2026 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. She is most recently seen in “The Saviors,” opposite Adam Scott and Danielle Deadwyler.
As an activist, Boniadi has campaigned for the rights of the Iranian people since 2008, with a focus on the unjust conviction and treatment of youth, women and political prisoners. She is also a Council on Foreign Relations member and serves on the board of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center. Appointed an Amnesty International UK ambassador in 2020, Boniadi has spoken at esteemed institutions, including the Oxford Union, Munich Security Conference and World Economic Forum, and she has addressed the U.S. Capitol, the U.K., German, Australian, Canadian parliaments and the U.N. Her numerous recognitions include the 2023 Sydney Peace Prize.
Karim Sadjadpour is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he focuses on Iran, Gulf security, and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic, a CNN Global Affairs Analyst and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He has testified numerous times before Congress for both Democratic and Republican leadership.
Sadjadpour is currently writing a book on radicalism for Random House/Knopf and appears frequently on media outlets such as the “PBS News Hour,” NPR and CNN. Recognized for his sharp analytical prose, his work was selected as a Foreign Affairs “Best Essay of the Year” in both 2025 (for “The Autumn of the Ayatollahs”) and 2024 (on the battle between Saudi “Vision 2030” and Iran “Vision 1979”). In 2023, he received an Emmy Award as consulting producer for the HBO documentary Hostages. Previously an analyst with the International Crisis Group based in Tehran and Washington, he has lived in Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. He speaks Persian, Italian and Spanish, and is proficient in Arabic.
Karim holds degrees from the University of Michigan and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Amna Nawaz is an Emmy, Peabody and Cronkite award-winning journalist who currently serves as co-anchor and co-managing editor of the “PBS News Hour.” In addition to anchoring PBS News’ flagship national news broadcast, Nawaz co-hosts the podcast “Settle In,” featuring thought leaders from all walks of life. She has also hosted a primetime arts show and documentaries on everything from America’s childcare crisis to global plastic pollution to life after incarceration.
Nawaz’s reporting ranges from politics and foreign affairs, to immigration and education, to culture and sports. She has anchored the show from the U.S. Southern border, Israel after the Oct. 7 attacks and Kyiv, Ukraine, during its war with Russia. Nawaz has interviewed presidents and heads of state, White House officials and lawmakers, professional athletes and musicians, and citizens around the world in the communities they call home.
Prior to joining PBS, Nawaz was anchor and correspondent at ABC News, anchoring breaking news coverage and leading the network’s livestream coverage of the 2016 presidential election. She also hosted the “Uncomfortable” podcast and reported a documentary on the Texas county with the highest rate of support for Donald Trump in the 2016 election. Before ABC, Nawaz was a foreign correspondent and Islamabad Bureau Chief for NBC News, where she regularly reported on the war in Afghanistan and the broader region.