البحوث والتعليقات - معهد الشرق الأوسط

Trump’s South Caucasus Peacemaking Is His Most Successful, but It Remains Unfinished

Of all the fronts in President Trump’s peacemaking agenda, the South Caucasus has delivered the most concrete results. The August 2025 Washington Declaration, signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan and witnessed by Trump, marked an important step toward peace in the region. The two sides initialed a peace agreement and advanced plans to unblock regional connectivity, including through the establishment of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), which would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhijevan exclave through southern Armenia. Implementation of TRIPP has since made notable progress, but construction has yet to start. A breakthrough on those two tracks would, in turn, unlock Armenia–Türkiye normalization, transforming a long-fractured region into an area of trade and interdependence.

The Iran War Was Always About Regime Change

Wars don’t just end. They get interpreted, reinterpreted, and turned into strategic doctrine. That is what happened after the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, a conflict that saw the United States back Tehran’s Iraqi adversaries. The war taught Tehran three lessons it never unlearned: that Washington wants the Islamic Republic gone, that Iran stands essentially alone in the world, and that it cannot survive a direct, overt fight with the U.S. and Israel.

Iran’s New War Cabinet Is Really an Old One

Within 48 hours this week, Iran filled six of the most important posts in its battered military and security establishment. Read together with the biographies and mandates behind them, the appointments show how Tehran is drawing lessons from successive wars and preparing for a prolonged period of insecurity, without proving it has abandoned negotiation.

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معلومات أساسية

جميع المعلومات الأساسية

Israeli Settlements in the West Bank

Since 1967, Israeli settlements in the West Bank have been a contested feature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The ultimate disposition of the settlements and ongoing activity related to their growth have repeatedly defied agreement in negotiations over a resolution to the conflict.

The Houthis

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.

The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor

The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) is a proposed multinational infrastructure initiative aimed at upgrading connectivity between the three regions through integrated trade, energy, and digital networks. Announced at the G20 summit in New Delhi in September 2023, IMEC is envisioned partially as a counterweight to China’s international infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative.

Turkish Foreign Policy

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.

المدونات الصوتية

التركيز على الشرق الأوسط

البودكاست الأسبوعي الرائد لمعهد الشرق الأوسط حول السياسة الخارجية الأمريكية والقضايا السياسية والاجتماعية المعاصرة في الشرق الأوسط.

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إزالة الحافة من الشرق الأوسط

براين كاتوليس، زميل أول في معهد الشرق الأوسط كاتوليس يشارك الأصدقاء والزملاء وخبراء السياسة في محادثات غير رسمية حول أهم الأحداث في الشرق الأوسط.

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إعادة التفكير في الديمقراطية

زميل أول في معهد الشرق الأوسط غونول تول تستضيف كبار العلماء وقادة الفكر حول اتجاهات الديمقراطية العالمية وحالة النظام الدولي الليبرالي.

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الأحدث أولاً

Women in Turkey: New Opportunities, New Challenges

The PKK Cease-Fire and Syria's Kurds

This article was first published by Foreign Policy on March 22, 2013

Withdrawal from Afghanistan: Next Steps and Challenges

Sectarianizing Foreign Policy In Egypt

This article was first published by Al-Monitor on March 19, 2013

Withdrawal from Afghanistan: Next Steps and Challenges

Wed, 3/20/2013 12:00 pm to 1:30 pmLocation: The SEIU Building1800 Massachusetts Avenue, NWWashingtonDistrict of Columbia20 036 The Middle East Institute is proud to host Lieutenant General (Ret.) David W. Barno and Dr. Michael E.

Withdrawal from Afghanistan: Next Steps and Challenges

Gulf Arab Foreign Direct Investment (FDI): ASEAN Targets of Opportunity

Although China and India have been new favorable destinations for Arab investors, Southeast Asian countries offer distinctive and profitable investment markets, featuring high demand and relatively low labor costs. In recent years, investments from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have surged.

The Songkok and Raouf Rifai’s Darwiche: A Cultural Dialogue Between the Middle East and Southeast Asia

Raouf Rifai, a doyen of Lebanese and Arab painters, introduced the Darwiche as the point of departure for his art in 2008. Rifai’s Darwiche is a folk character created by the artist and representing the common man (“darwiche” in Arabic means a simple and simple-minded person). Rifai’s common man also encompasses ― through the name the artist chose ― the dervish, or Sufi mystic, thus imbuing a spiritual and physical duality to the character.

The US "Pivot" to the Asia-Pacific and US Middle East Policy: Towards an Integrated Approach

here is a need for the United States to adopt an integrated approach, that is, one that encompasses both the Asia-Pacific and Middle East. After all, Asia-Pacific economic growth is heavily dependent on the oil/gas resources of the Middle East and the security and safety of navigation in the maritime space between these regions. For this reason and because of the important bilateral relations the United States has with countries in both the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, it is neither accurate nor prudent for Washington to treat the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East as separate regions, or to rebalance its weight without taking into full account cross-regional considerations.

Interview with Ambassador Dr. Mohamed Noman Galal: Reflections of a Scholar-Diplomat on Arab-Asia Relations

To be sure, Asia is the home of great civilizations. It is also the continent of rising powers, dynamic economies, and nearly half of the world’s population. For these reasons, it only makes sense that Egypt continues seeking ways to expand its ties with Asian countries. It will take imaginative Egyptian leadership to accomplish this objective and, more broadly, to capitalize on the country’s location and to help unleash its people’s creative energy.

Is Turkey Ready for a Kurdish Peace?

This article was first published by The National Interest on March 12, 2013

Women in Turkey: New Opportunities, New Challenges

The Middle East Institute is proud to host three women changemakers in Turkey for a discussion about women in business and women’s rights. In recent years, women in Turkey have made inroads in fields where women have not traditionally been present. They are now successful business owners, managers, entrepreneurs, politicians, engineers, and academics. Their voices have become part of the public debate as they increasingly participate in all aspects of public life.

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الأبحاث والتعليقات

Trump’s South Caucasus Peacemaking Is His Most Successful, but It Remains Unfinished

The Iran War Was Always About Regime Change

Iran’s New War Cabinet Is Really an Old One

Additional Research & Commentary