Read in-depth research, analysis, and commentary from MEI’s fellows and experts on the Middle East.
The US administration appears to have great expectations for Iraq’s new prime minister, Ali Falah al-Zaidi. But the expectations need to be tempered.
The 2026 Iran war has made Lebanon a core Gulf security concern, and Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar now have a narrow opportunity to curb Hizballah’s influence by leading reconstruction, strengthening Lebanese state institutions, and tying economic re-engagement to reform.
After nearly four months of war, the US and Iran have signed a 14-point memorandum of understanding declaring the conflict over, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and beginning talks toward a final deal. Alan Eyre, MEI Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow and a core member of the 2015 JCPOA negotiating team, joins host Alistair Taylor to unpack the deal’s implications for both countries, its ripple effects across the region, and what a lasting settlement would take.
The Houthis are a political-military faction and Zaydi religious movement founded in northwestern Yemen in the 1980s. A key member of Iran’s Axis of Resistance with links to other militant organizations in the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, the group has continued to pose a threat to Western interests on a global scale.
This backgrounder provides an overview of how the Abraham Accords came about, the US interests involved, their economic and strategic consequences, and the prospects for further enlargement going forward.
After a decade of post-Arab Spring isolation, Turkey’s leaders have recognized that their ambition to position the country as an agenda-setter on the world stage requires active engagement in all directions. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s consolidation of executive authority has centralized foreign policy decision-making and tied it to his domestic political priorities, transforming the country’s revisionist approach to one shaped primarily by personal and pragmatic interests.
As the Western Sahara conflict reaches its fifth decade, the territorial dispute remains unresolved and largely unknown. MEI’s Intissar Fakir unpacks the Western Sahara’s complex history and the rival claims by Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. She examines recent developments, such as President Trump’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the territory and the collapse of a 30-year cease-fire, as well as the core questions that remain unanswered after half a century.
MEI’s flagship weekly podcast on US foreign policy and contemporary political and social issues in the Middle East.
MEI Senior Fellow Brian Katulis engages friends, colleagues, and policy experts in casual conversations on the most important happenings in the Middle East.
MEI Senior Fellow Gonul Tol hosts leading scholars and thought leaders on global democracy trends and the state of the liberal international order.
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Gonul Tol, Paul Salem, Nathan Stock, Alex Vatanka, Gerald Feierstein, and Marvin G. Weinbaum provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including upcoming snap elections in Turkey, Lebanon’s Free Patriotic Movement party, protests in Gaza, the future of the Iran nuclear deal, Yemeni peace talks, and the ISKP attack on Shiite Hazaras.
The deputy commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards today threatened to annihilate Israel in an apparent reaction to the latest Israeli military strikes against Syrian and Iranian military targets in Syria. “Listen!
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani voiced support for the country’s military forces to develop advance weapons, including missiles, to enhance the Islamic Republic’s deterrence capabilities. “I am support the Artesh [Iran’s regular army] and Sepah [Islamic Revolution Guards Corps] to make any weapons needed for defense,” the Iranian media quoted the president as saying at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the Iranian Army. He emphasized that the Iranian Army and the IRGC do not need the permission of any foreign power to bolster the country’s defense capabilities.
The office of Hassan Rouhani today announced that the Iranian president has suspended his official account in Telegram, Iranian media reported. Rouhani’s decision came after Supreme Leader Ali Khameni’s office said yesterday that the Iranian leader would no longer use Telegram to “safeguard” Iran’s national security and “remove the monopoly of Telegram messenger”.
Amb. Robert Ford and Charles Lister join host Paul Salem to discuss last week’s U.S. airstrikes in Syria in response to the Assad government’s ongoing use of chemical weapons, what the Trump administration is signaling about America’s plans there, and the escalating standoff between Israeli and Iranian forces in the country.
In the latest sign that the Iranian regime is set to further increase Internet restrictions, the office of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today that the Supreme Leader is leaving Telegram, the most popular messaging service in Iran used by more than a half of the country’s 80 million population. All government agencies have reportedly been prohibited from using Telegram, and today’s announcement indicated that the government plans to shut down the messaging app in the near future.
Fifteen years after the fall of the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein, Iraq is still engaged in the process of transitioning to a system of governance representative of its population. The new Iraq has experienced meaningful progress and serious setbacks. While the upcoming elections, slated for May, promise a further constructive push, Iraq faces serious structural impediments to progress—including a divisive political environment and significant social challenges in the wake of ISIS—and should expect incremental rather than revolutionary change.
A prominent Iranian-backed Iraqi militia group has said that its forces will stand by the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria to defend it against any attacks by the United States and its allies.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian paid a one-day visit to Tehran on Monday to discuss Iran’s controversial missile program and regional activities. Iranian leaders told the top French diplomat that European countries should put pressure on the Trump administration to keep and implement that Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deal Iran signed with world powers in July 2015.
This essay is part of the series “All About China,” which aims to shed light on the lasting imprint of China’s past encounters with the Islamic world and increasingly vibrant and complex dynamics of contemporary Sino-Middle Eastern relations. Read more …
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told journalists in New York last week that the kingdom is looking at extending its oil production-cut deal with Russia for 10 to 20 years.
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Charles Lister, Gonul Tol, Paul Salem, Alex Vatanka, and Marvin G. Weinbaum provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including the Syria strikes, Turkey’s Assad paradox, the Arab League summit, EU’s view of the Iran nuclear deal, and clashes along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
conference in Tehran, Bahram Qassemi said “the aggression on Syrian soil was illegal” and emphasized that the Israeli attack will not go unanswered this time. “Israel will receive the required responses sooner or later,” he told at the briefing. “They cannot take (such) an action and be exempt from punishment,” he added. “The time for hit and run has passed for Israel, and the resistance forces in the region are capable of retaliating fittingly.” The spokesman also said Tehran is considering legal action against Israel, but did not elaborate.
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.
