The Other MoU: Launching a Europe-Gulf Resilience Initiative After the US-Iran Deal
The Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the United States and Iran may have ended one of the most consequential Middle Eastern crises in decades, but it has not resolved the strategic problem it exposed. Whether the 60-day talks it set in motion will produce a final agreement remains far from certain.Yet the central lessons are already clear: Iran has preserved significant leverage, Washington has had to scale back its ambitions, and Europe and the Gulf face the prospect of protracted regional tension. Europe and the Gulf should therefore use the aftermath of the US-Iran deal to articulate their own “other MoU”: a Europe-Gulf Resilience initiative.
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.
Podcasts
Middle East Focus
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.
Zarif Uses Farhadi’s Oscar Victory To Attack Trump But Remains Silent on Repression against Artists at Home
While the Iranian hardline media largely ignored the Oscar victory by the country’s world-renowned director Asghar Farhadi, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif hailed Farhadi’s accomplishment and used the occasion to attack the Trump administration’s plan to temporarily ban immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations, including Iran.
Arab Daily Questions Sincerity of Tehran’s Diplomatic Outreach
An article published yesterday in Saudi daily Al Jazirah questioned the sincerity of President Hassan Rouhani’s diplomatic outreach to the Gulf Arab countries and called the Iranian president’s recent trip to Oman and Kuwait a “public relations” campaign to portray a positive image of Iran to domestic and international aud
Iran’s Scathing Attack on Turkey as Syria Peace Talks Begin in Geneva
In the latest episode of escalating diplomatic tension between Tehran and Ankara, Iran’s foreign minister today blasted latest statements by Turkish officials accusing Iran of destabilizing the Middle East and fueling sectarian divide in the region.
Iran Hands Long Jail Terms for Azeri Activists for Peaceful Protest
Authorities in Iran have sentenced four Iranian ethnic Azerbaijanis to long jail terms for “peacefully defending their rights,” the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reports.
Afghan Daily: Tehran “Blackmails” Kabul for Political Concessions
Afghanistan’s leading daily newspaper Hasht-e Sobh has blasted the Iranian government for blocking Afghanistan’s accession to the Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA) and using its leverage within TRACECA to “blackmail” the Afghan government and seek political concessions from Kabul.
Minority-ness and the Re-entrenchment of Sectarianism since the Arab Uprisings
This essay looks at sectarianism from the perspective of minority studies. The author argues that if sectarianism is understood as a struggle for power over national truths and national resources, then a persistent overemphasis on labeling minority/majority categories could contribute to the form and force of sectarian discourse and politics.
Son of Dissident Cleric Begins Six-Year Jail Term for Releasing Mass Execution Tape
The Iranian authorities yesterday arrested Ahmad Montazeri, the son of one of the founding fathers of Islamic Republic, to serve a six-year jail term for releasing tapes that shed further light on the regime’s mass executions of political prisoners in 1988, the Iranian media reports.
Iran's Defense Minister Says Will Continue Missile Activity, Calls for Israel’s Destruction
Iran has increased the range, precision and longevity of its ballistic missiles and will continue to increase its defensive power, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan said earlier today.
Top U.S. General Says Iran’s Behavior Unchanged despite Washington’s Warnings
Iran’s behavior has not changed since President Donald Trump put the country “on notice,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said at a public conference at the Brookings Institution earlier today. “From my perspective, the major export of Iran is actually malign influence across the region,” he explained.
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.
