Ambassador John W. Limbert is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iran in State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. He is a veteran U.S. diplomat and a former official at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, where he was held captive during the Iran hostage crisis.
Limbert was in born in Washington, D.C., where he graduated from public school. He received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. all from Harvard University. His Ph.D. was in History and Middle Eastern Studies.
In 1962, Limbert first traveled to Iran while his parents were working there for USAID. Before joining the U.S. Foreign Service, Limbert returned to Iran as a Peace Corps volunteer (1964-66) and as an English instructor at Pahlavi University (1969-72, later renamed Shiraz University). He speaks Persian fluently.
Limbert is married to an Iranian woman, and since 1980, he has been a long-time resident of Stockbridge, Vermont.
Ambassador Limbert joined the Foreign Service in 1973. His overseas postings included Algeria, Djibouti, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. From 2000-2003, he was Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. While still Ambassador, he was one of the first civilian officials to enter Baghdad in April 2003 with the Organization of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance. Among his earlier positions, he served as Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism in the State Department (2000). Limbert retired from the Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor.
In academic field, Limbert's positions have included: professor of political science at the U.S. Naval Academy (1981-84), Senior Fellow at Harvard University's Center for International Affairs (1991-92), Dean of the Foreign Service Institute's School of Language Studies, and an appointment as the Distinguished Professor of International Affairs in the departments of political science and history at the U.S. Naval Academy in August 2006.
Iran
In 1979, Limbert was a newly appointed Foreign Service officer posted to the U.S. Embassy in Tehran when it was overrun by Iranian students. He had arrived as a diplomat only 12 weeks before the embassy's capture. Along with 51 other Americans, he would be held captive for more than a year. Asked about how his experience as a hostage in Iran changed him, Limbert said, "I think I got a new appreciation for our own profession -- that is, the profession of diplomacy. And the idea of how do you solve problems between nations and between people?"
Limbert also remarked that he was wrong about the 1979 Islamic Revolution: "I admit that I called it wrong really from the beginning and in the direction that it went. The direction that it went -- this rather harsh and brutal and intolerant direction that it went -- certainly surprised me. I didn't expect it. Nor did I expect that we and the Iranians would remain estranged for as long as we have."
Limbert was a board member at the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) until his November 2009 appointment as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iran. In the same month, the NIAC came under scrutiny when Washington Times national security correspondent Eli Lake reported that the organization, registered as a 501 educational organization, could be operating as a foreign lobby in violation of federal law.
Given the NIAC's purported support of the policies of the Iranian regime, some political commentators have questioned the appropriateness of Limbert's appointment. Ed Lasky of American Thinker argues that because of Limbert's associations with the NIAC, he is "not a neutral arbiter" on Iran. Michael Goldfarb of The Weekly Standard has also expressed concern regarding the motivations behind Limbert's early 2007 meeting with Javad Zarif, then the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations. Limbert wrote a thank you note to Trita Parsi, president of the NIAC, for helping to arrange the meeting, which he called "a very profitable session."
In response, NIAC published a point by point rebuttal of the article written by Eli Lake, stating that "NIAC is a 501 c3 educational organization with an H election. As a result, NIAC is permitted to engage in lobbying up to 20% of its budget. NIAC and its staff are in full compliance with all regulations and laws" elaborating further that "Educational activities and advocacy for general policies, such as opposition to war - as opposed to specific legislation - are not lobbying under the law."
