Education
A native from Qom, the center for Shi"a scholarship in Iran, Khalaji studied Islamic theology in Qom seminary, and Philosophy in Tarbiat Modarres University, which is one of the country"s leading Teacher Training Institutes. There he studied theology and jurisprudence, earning a doctorate and thoroughly researched on modern intellectual and philosophical-political developments in Iran and the wider Islamic and Western worlds.
Career
He has frequently contributed to major media outlets such as The Guardian, British Broadcasting Corporation, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. Khalaji is an American citizen. From 1986 to 2000, Khalaji trained in the seminaries of Qom, the traditional center of Iran"s clerical establishment.
In Qom, and later in Tehran, Khalaji launched a career in journalism, first serving on the editorial board of a theological journal, Naqd va Nazar, and then the daily Entekhab.
In 1993, Khalaji became a contributor to Kiyan monthly magazine, which at the time was the main voice of religious intellectuals in Iran. He also worked for British Broadcasting Corporation Persian as a political analyst on Iranian affairs, eventually becoming a broadcaster for the Prague-based Radio Farda, the Persian-language service of the United States. government"s Radio Free Europe Radio Station Liberty.
At Radio Farda, he produced news, features, and analysis on a range of Middle Eastern, Iranian, and Islamic issues. He is a frequent contributor in PolicyWatch and PeaceWatch segments submitted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
He has participated in many panels including one in November 2006 when he appeared on a panel run by American Foreign Policy Council, titled "Understanding the Iranian Threat", along with James Woolsey, Ilan Berman, and Patrick Clawson.
He is a writer and contributor for numerous English-language and Persian-language media entities. He also teaches Persian-language webinars on Quran"ic interpretation for Tavaana: East-Learning Institute for Iranian Civil Society. Arrest of father
In January 2010, Mehdi Khalaji’s father, Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Khalaji, was arrested in Iran.