U.S. and Saudi confrontations with Iran are causing proxy-warfare in weak or failing Arab states and escalating tensions in the Gulf, but there might still be a chance for diplomatic progress with the right combination of measures targeting Gulf-specific, regional, and international issues.
Drivers, scenarios, and strategic choices for an improved Arab World
Extreme instability has prompted a fundamental reconfiguration of the contemporary Middle East; as the old order crumbles, a new one has yet to emerge
Iran’s role in the “end-state diplomatic model” of conflict resolution and crisis management in the Middle East
Following the 2017–18 uprising, Iran is sick, stuck in three endemic crises with a foreign policy unlikely to alleviate what ails it
Iran continues its military presence in Syria even after the fight is won—a move which is underpinned by the Islamic Republic’s core deterrence and defense foreign policy against possible Israeli or US military action.
Divisions among the states vested in Syria are opening possibilities for Syria’s Kurds to secure greater protection for their autonomy.
In a speech which may have policy implications for the Trump Administration’s Middle East policy, the United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lays out plans for the region at the American University in Cairo.
While Assad and his supporters seem close to reconquering Southwestern Syria, stability is far from assured.
A commentary on whether Europe will be able to salvage the Iranian Nuclear Pact or if the Trump Administration can unilaterally scrap the JCPOA.
Iranian women advance their political agency even as their government imposes a neo-patriarchal economic and political system in the Islamic Republic.
The consequences of Trump’s short-sighted decision on the Iran Nuclear Pact and an analysis of the JCPOA’s pros and cons.
Trump’s Iran policy burns with fury as well as utter incoherence.
Former secretary general of the League of Arab States, Amre Moussa, offers eight recommendations for establishing a new regional order that would see Arab countries end instability and regain control of their futures.
The conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran marks a deepening division between regional powers and international hegemons in the Persian Gulf. The Saudis and Iranians have to learn to cooperate or risk further confrontation.
Now that the Islamic State has all but been defeated, some Iranians are beginning to wonder what they will receive in return for supporting regional allies.
As U.S.-Iranian tensions rise, the Trump administration should adopt a political-military strategy that will counter the causes and effects of Iranian aggression.
With Iran’s deepening engagement in Syria following the expulsion of the Islamic State (IS), the old Iranian-Israeli feud is reigniting.
The best hope for the Middle East is for sensible and responsible people in all concerned lands, especially around the Gulf, to grasp the catastrophes that will engulf much of the region if current trends continue.
The debate on the Iran nuclear deal has largely ignored the effects that an accord might have on politics and society within the country. An Iranian scholar considers what the future might hold.
Eight experts on what the nuclear deal means for Iran, the United States, the Middle East, and the world.
A study of love, sex, and death in Tehran.
In 2003, Shirin Ebadi became the first Iranian and first Muslim woman to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. She has championed human rights in Iran for three decades, and was a founder of Iran’s women’s movement. Since the anti-freedom crackdown in 2009, she has traveled the globe to press the case for justice in the Islamic Republic.
