Research & Commentary Results

In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Paul Salem, Randa Slim, Charles Lister, Gonul Tol, and Alex Vatanka provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including the need for an overarching strategy in Syria following U.S. airstrikes, Secretary of State Tillerson’s upcoming visit to Moscow, the likely aftermath of U.S. airstrikes in Syria, Turkey’s growing frustration with U.S. strategy in Syria, and the rise of a hardliner challenger to Rouhani in the upcoming Iranian presidential election.

Read the full article at Politico.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said that the United States committed a “strategic mistake” by attacking Syria, the Iranian media reported.

The Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (P.M.F.)

A joint operational command center of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s foreign backers has warned that it will forcefully respond to any future U.S. military attack against Syria, the Iranian media reports.

A senior Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) commander has been assassinated in Iran’s restive Sistan and Baluchestan Province, the Iranian media reports. According to I.R.G.C.-affiliated Tasnim News Agency, Ruhollah A’ali, an I.R.G.C. battalion commander in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan and Baluchestan, was “martyred” by “Takfiri terrorists” last night. Takfiri is a term Iranian leaders use for Sunni militants. The commander was affiliated with the I.R.G.C.’s 110th Salman Brigade in the province. The two assassins were reportedly killed by Basij forces.

U.S. cruise missile strikes on al-Shayrat airfield northeast of Damascus early April 7 have changed the dynamics of the Syrian war. The strikes were intended as a clear and contained message to the Assad regime that the barbarism of the Syrian government has its limits. It was not a declaration of war by the United States, but it served to delineate last week’s message from the Americans that regime change in Damascus was “not practical”, a message that may have given Bashar al-Assad the impression that he now had a free hand in the war.

Iranian officials condemned the Trump administration’s missile strikes against a Syrian airfield used for an alleged chemical attack against civilians. “We strongly condemn any unilateral military action and missile attack against the Shayrat airbase in Syria by American warships.

A senior Iranian military official has

A prominent Iran-backed Iraqi militia group fighting in Syria has announced  that the U.S. military strike will not change the trajectory of the Syrian war, the Iranian media reports.

A senior Iranian cleric defended the regime of Bashar al-Assad and accused the United States of providing terrorists with chemical weapons in Syria.

April 6, 2017 – Paul Salem explains three ways that the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons against civilians is already impacting the Trump administration’s policy toward Syria.

While more evidence is surfacing that suggests the Syrian army may have been behind the chemical attack that killed scores of civilians in Syria, Iranian media outlets affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) continue to defend the regime of Bashar al-Assad. They argue that Damascus was not responsible for the killings. “Without doubt, the claims by Syrian opposition groups and some western and Arab countries that the Syrian army has used chemical weapons in Idlib can be categorically rejected.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has reacted angrily to British Prime Minister Theresa May’s latest comments about Tehran’s destabilizing role in the Middle East, the ministry’s official website re

The Iranian Navy has