Career
A United States. citizen of Iranian descent, Daragahi was a 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for his coverage of Iraq and led the bureau that was named a 2007 Pulitzer finalist for its Iraq coverage. He was also named a 2010 Pulitzer finalist for his coverage of the 2009 election unrest in Iran. He has covered Iran, Afghanistan, Lebanon and the wider Middle East.
Before joining the Los Angeles Times in 2005, he was a freelance journalist for a number of publications and radio outlets, including the Newark, New Jersey Star-Ledger and Marketplace radio program
He covered the build-up to the 2003 United States. invasion of Iraq for the Associated Press. After 4½ years in Iraq, Daragahi moved on in 2007 to a new assignment in Beirut.
On April 10, 2007, The Los Angeles Times started publishing a front page memoir of his time in Iraq. The article describes the tactics used by reporters working under potentially lethal conditions, and provides personal insight into the effects of terror and stress on those working in combat zones.
In September 2011, Daragahi became the Cairo-based Middle East and North Africa correspondent for the Financial Times.
In April 2015, Daragahi joined BuzzFeed News as a new Middle East reporter. He is a 1987 alumnus of Homewood-Flossmoor High School in Flossmoor, Illinois.
