Ambassador Nicholas Hopton is a nonresident senior fellow with the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Middle East programs. He is the director general of the Middle East Association and founder of the geopolitical consultancy Belmont Advisory Limited. He is also a distinguished fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.

Hopton served as British ambassador to Libya (2019–2021), Iran (2015–2018), Qatar (2013–2015), and Yemen (2012–2013). His earlier diplomatic postings included assignments in Paris, Rome, Morocco, and Mauritania. In London, he held senior roles across the Foreign Office, Cabinet Office, and No. 10 Downing Street. He led the team that produced the United Kingdom’s first National Security Strategy (2008), served as senior UK official at the Perth Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (2011), and was private secretary to four UK government ministers for Europe. Over a thirty-five-year diplomatic career, Hopton advanced UK interests and forged partnerships across complex and high-stakes environments, contributing to international peace, security, and strategic cooperation.