Saudi Analysis: Iran’s Response to Bahrain Terror Attack Proves Dialogue Impossible
Salman al-Dossary, Editor-in- Chief of al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper, observed that the Iranian response to the January 1 terror attack on a Bahraini police station, killing a police officer and allowing prisoners to escape, proves that there is no basis for a constructive dialogue between the Arab Gulf states and Iran.
Saudi Female Conservationist Fights to Preserve Islamic Heritage
The Middle East’s descent into chaos has been accompanied by a growing threat to the region’s historic sites. The breakdown of states and growth in extremism have exposed these ancient sites to looting and destruction. The drivers, however, are varied. Extremist groups like ISIS profit from the smuggling of antiquities, but there are also religious motivations. Extremist movements such as ISIS and al-Qaeda, which adhere to a strictly puritanical view of Islam, perceive heritage sites, including Islamic, as a sinful distraction from faith.
Iranian Responsible for Saudi Embassy Attack Claims Iran Government Gave “Green Light”
Iranian extremist cleric Hassan Kurdmihan, the confessed mastermind of the January 2016 attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, is heard in a leaked tape recording telling his followers that the attack was “carried out upon a green light from the government and the regime,” according to a December 18 report in al-Arabiya. Kurdmihan can also be heard in the leaked calls directing members of the Iranian Basij and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) to burn and destroy the Embassy and seize documents inside. The leaked recordings have been attributed to the Iranian opposition Green Mov
Toward a Regional Framework for the Middle East: Takeaways from other Regions
Regional Cooperation Series
This Policy Paper is part of the Middle East Institute’s Regional Cooperation Series. Throughout 2016, MEI will be releasing several policy papers by renowned scholars and experts exploring possibilities to foster regional cooperation across an array of sectors. The purpose is to highlight the myriad benefits and opportunities associated with regional cooperation, and the high costs of the continued business-as-usual model of competition and intense rivalry.
UAE's Siding with Saudi Arabia in Diplomatic Row Unsettles Iran
Diplomatic relations between Iran and the United Arab Emirates are going through another rough patch as the latter recently submitted a letter to the United Nations General Assembly, expressing concern over Iran’s “expansionist” policies in the region.
U.S.-G.C.C. Relations: Recommendations for the Next Administration
The United States will confront a new and very different set of challenges in its relationship with the G.C.C. states over the coming four years. For the first time since the end of World War II, a new administration will come to power in Washington next January facing a ‘trust deficit’ in its management of relations with its G.C.C. partners. The overwhelming Congressional vote to override President Barack Obama’s veto of the JASTA legislation was interpreted in the region as a lessening of popular support for the U.S.-G.C.C. relationship.
Briefing: Middle East Reactions to the U.S. Election
In this special edition of our weekly briefing, MEI experts Paul Salem, Robert S. Ford, Eran Etzion, Gonul Tol, Alex Vatanka, and Gerald Feierstein provide analysis on the impact of Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. Presidential Election on the future of Middle East policy, its particular effect on the crises in Iraq and Syria, and how the news has been received across the region, including in Turkey, Iran, and the GCC.
When Osama bin Laden carefully recruited a number of Saudis to carry out the 9/11 attacks, his intention was to drive a wedge between his two enemies, the United States and the Saudi government. Fifteen years after the attacks, the JASTA legislation appears to be doing just that.
The State Department has welcomed an agreement among all Yemeni parties and the Saudi-led coalition to observe a 72-hour cease-fire beginning on October 19. The warring factions agreed to “implement a full and comprehensive halt to military activities of any kind and help facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Yemenis across the country.”[i]
Yemeni Factions, Saudi Arabia Escalate Aimless War
The parties to the intractable Yemen war appear further entrenched in their enmity than ever before, despite U.S. and British efforts to push Yemeni leaders toward new negotiations.
In this Weekly Briefing, MEI experts Robert S. Ford, Gonul Tol, and Ruba Husari provide analysis on issues including the UNSC’s inability to administer diplomatic solutions in Syria, the rebuilding of diplomatic ties between Russia and Turkey, and OPEC’s ongoing consideration of how to control member state oil production.
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Robert S. Ford, Paul Salem, and Marvin G. Weinbaum provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including Russia’s recent escalation of military force in Syria, deteriorating Saudi-Iranian relations, and an escalation in the Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
“[Food insecurity has] the potential to amplify destabilization, engender violence, and even accelerate state failure processes in an already geopolitically charged region”
– Andy Spiess in Food Security in the GCC Economies (2012)
