The Americans Are Gone. Will Iraq’s Militias Disarm?
On September 30, the US completed its military withdrawal from Iraq, ending a 12-year-long mission to combat ISIS that began in 2014. The date was also meant to be the deadline for disarming the largely Iranian-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), but Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has now pushed that cutoff back to June 30, 2027. MEI Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow Amb. (ret.) Robert S. Ford joins hosts Alistair Taylor and Matthew Czekaj to discuss what the US military withdrawal means for Iraqi security and the nature of the bilateral relationship going forward. They also speak about what it will take for Baghdad to bring the PMF militias to heel, and how Iraq may navigate the post-Iran war era.
Jordan’s Economy Weathers Iran War’s Shocks and Finds New Opportunities
In the summer of 2003, King Abdullah II told Bloomberg Jordan sits “between Iraq and a hard place,” a play on words designed to describe the kingdom’s challenging environment to an American audience amid the US-led Iraq war to the east and the lingering Palestinian-Israeli conflict to the west. Jordan is grappling with a much “harder place” today.
Proponents of the war with Iran have taken recent increases in crude-oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz as proof that the US strategy is finally working. President Trump is so confident in this that he recently rejected a seven-day plan, set forward by Iran’s foreign ministry, to end the war and open the strait. The United States is “winning tremendously,” Trump boasted.
Activist on Hunger Strike Writes Her Will from Iran’s Evin Prison
Hengameh Shahidi, a reformist political activist on hunger strike in Tehran’s Evin Prison, has written a will, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) reports. “Hengameh called me today (Saturday, April 1) and she was in very bad shape,” Nahid Kermanshahi, Shahidi’s mother told CHRI. “She has chest pains and doesn’t have the strength to walk…She said she had handed her will to the interrogator.” In the two-page letter, Shahidi has said that if she dies in the jail, President Hassan Rouhani, Intelligence Ministry and the Judiciary should be held to account.
Authorities in Iran Arrest Five Members of Baha’i Minority
Simin Fahandej, the spokesman of the Baha’i International Community, has told Radio Farda that Iranian authorities have arrested five members of the Baha’i community in the Iranian province of Isfahan.
Iran Rejects Arab Leaders’ Call for Dialogue on Disputed Islands
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has rejected a request by Arab leaders to negotiate with the United Arab Emirates for a peaceful settlement to the three disputed islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa.
Iran’s Defense Minister Calls on U.S. Naval Forces to Leave Gulf Region
Iran’s Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan on Thursday depicted the U.S. naval forces in the Persian Gulf as armed intruders and called on Washington to leave the region. “What are the Americans doing in the Persian Gulf?
Moroccan Officials Accuse Iran of Spreading Shiism in the Sunni Kingdom
Moroccan officials have reportedly accused Iran of undermining sectarian harmony in the North African country. According to al-Quds al-Araby, Iran is pushing a “Shiite agenda” by recruiting thousands of young Moroccans in cities such as Hasima, which, according to the news outlet, has witnessed several anti-government protests in recent months.
The oldest peer-reviewed publication dedicated to the study of the modern Middle East, MEI’s flagship journal covers politics, society, and culture in the region.
