Fassihi's memoir, Waiting for An Ordinary Day, is based on her four years covering the Iraq War and witnessing the unraveling of social life for Iraqi citizens.
[2] She covered the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the war in Afghanistan, Second Palestinian Intifada and Iraq under Saddam Hussein for The Star-Ledger.
[1] She led the paper's award-winning coverage of the crash of Egypt Air flight 990, traveling to Cairo to investigate the story.
[3] It included criticism of U.S. activities in Iraq, saying "The genie of terrorism, chaos, and mayhem has been unleashed... as a result of American mistakes".
[5] Fassihi reported in November 2019 uprising in Iran and broke the story of the massacre of people in Mahshahr,[9] reconstructing in detail how the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, a passenger plane, with missiles on a night that the U.S. and Iran went to the brink of war, and lied about it for three days.
[11] In October 2020, Fassihi's investigation into Iran's MeToo movement revealed allegations of sexual misconduct against prominent artist Aydin Aghdashloo.
[12] In August 2021, it was reported that Fassihi had been the target of a series of cyber attacks and violent threats by certain Iranian opposition groups and internet trolls over several months.
[14] In October 2021, Fassihi and the New York Times were accused and called out in an open letter by critics for "fake news" reports for "[denial of (DARVO)] and normalizing Iranian government brutality", which The New York Times Editorial board, public relations and Fassihi rebutted in an official public statement.