Vali Reza Nasr (Persian: ولی‌ رضا نصر, born 20 December 1960) is an Iranian-American academic and author, specializing in the Middle East and the Islamic world.

Nasr is also a Non-Resident Fellow in South Asia at Atlantic Council[1] and is described by The Economist as "a leading world authority on Shia Islam".

[2] Son of the Iranian academic, philosopher, and scholar of religion Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Vali Nasr was born in Tehran, Imperial State of Iran in 1960, went to school in England at age 16, and immigrated to the United States after the 1979 Revolution.

[4] Nasr was a member of the State Department's Foreign Affairs Policy Board and served as senior advisor to the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, between 2009 and 2011.

Nasr's writing has addressed politics and Islamic activism in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and throughout the Arab world.