A Letter from the Center for Research of Terror Financing (CENTEF) Leadership

CENTEF Welcomes Dr. Emanuele Ottolenghi as Senior Research Fellow

The Center for Research of Terror Financing (CENTEF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Emanuele Ottolenghi as a Senior Research Fellow. Dr. Ottolenghi brings over two decades of internationally respected expertise in tracking, investigating, and exposing hybrid threat networks linked to Iran and Hezbollah.

Dr. Ottolenghi also serves as a Senior Advisor at 240 Analytics LTD. From 2010 to 2024, he was a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where his research and writing significantly advanced global understanding of Iran’s malign activities and established him as one of the world’s experts in illicit finance infrastructures. Prior to this, he served as Executive Director of the AJC Transatlantic Institute in Brussels from 2006 to 2010.

From 1999 to 2006, Dr. Ottolenghi taught Israel Studies at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies and at the Middle East Centre of St. Antony’s College, Oxford University. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Bologna in Italy.

Dr. Ottolenghi is the author of three notable books examining Iran’s geopolitical strategies and nuclear ambitions:

• The Pasdaran: Inside Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (FDD, 2011)
• Iran, the Looming Crisis (Profile Books, 2010)
• Under a Mushroom Cloud: Europe, Iran, and the Bomb (Profile Books, 2009)

Fluent in Italian, English, Hebrew, and Spanish, Dr. Ottolenghi is frequently engaged by international media and institutions and will support CENTEF’s outreach and global engagement across regions. CENTEF looks forward to the expertise and leadership Dr. Ottolenghi will contribute to its research programs, policy initiatives, and global partnerships.

The Center for Research of Terror Financing (CENTEF) is a global research institute dedicated to advancing the understanding of terror financing and its worldwide impact. CENTEF’s mission is to generate research, disseminate knowledge, and serve as an industry hub to better understand and disrupt the financing of terrorist activities.

Technology-driven and innovation-focused, CENTEF leverages advanced tools like AI and big data analytics to enhance research and knowledge-sharing capabilities. By partnering with experts from academia, finance, technology, and regulatory bodies, the center enables stakeholders to share insights, develop solutions, and uncover the financial networks and methods that fuel terrorism.