[6][7] A former Dubai-based correspondent for the Reuters news agency,[8] a Tehran-based correspondent for The Washington Post, a Riyadh-based business and economics writer for Arab News, and a Washington-based contributor to the Financial Times, Molavi has written widely on the Middle East, US regional policy, geo-economic trends in the Middle East and Asia, and globalization for a wide range of international publications.
[12] Previously, Molavi worked at International Finance Corporation, the private-sector development arm of the World Bank where he headed civil and media outreach for the Middle East/North Africa and Southern Europe/Central Asia regions.
[13][14] As a fellow at the New America Foundation, Molavi focuses on the geopolitics and geo-economics of the Middle East and Asia, with an emphasis on the relationship between economic development and democratization.
His current research includes the economic implications of the Arab Spring and the "New Silk Road," which explores the expanding trade, cultural, diplomatic, and business connections between the Middle East and Asia.
[15] He has described "The New Silk Road" at a conference at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars on China and the Persian Gulf region,[16] at a World Bank Seminar entitled the East-East Corridor,[17] in an article in The Washington Post entitled "The New Silk Road",[18] and in the pages of The National, where he wrote about "the meeting of West Asia and East Asia.