Trump’s Family Business Deals Risk Further Undermining the Credibility of US Middle East Policy
President Trump’s family businesses are once again in the spotlight as a new financial disclosure showed they earned $2 billion in income in 2025 — a dramatic increase on the year before, with much of it coming from Gulf entities, raising emoluments concerns. Mounting perceptions of corruption, combined with unresolved crises in Iran and Israel-Palestine, are eroding trust among key partners in the Middle East. With the 2026 midterms approaching, these entanglements could represent a major political vulnerability and further undermine America’s already-strained standing in the region.
After the US-Israel-Iran war — and the strikes that followed the cease-fire — the Gulf states find themselves dangerously exposed. Host Alistair Taylor is joined by MEI Associate Fellow Gregory Gause to discuss the war’s impact on the Gulf, their partnership with the United States, and whether the turmoil of recent months will push Gulf leaders to reassess their alliances and international engagement.
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.
تقدم هذه الوثيقة المعلوماتية لمحة عامة عن كيفية التوصل إلى اتفاقيات أبراهام، والمصالح الأمريكية المعنية، وعواقبها الاقتصادية والاستراتيجية، وآفاق التوسع في المستقبل.
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.
مع دخول نزاع الصحراء الغربية عقده الخامس، لا يزال النزاع الإقليمي دون حل وغير معروف إلى حد كبير. تحلل إنتصار فقير من معهد الشرق الأوسط (MEI) التاريخ المعقد للصحراء الغربية والمطالبات المتنافسة من قبل المغرب والجمهورية العربية الصحراوية الديمقراطية. وتبحث في التطورات الأخيرة، مثل اعتراف الرئيس ترامب بسيادة المغرب على الإقليم وانهيار وقف إطلاق النار الذي دام 30 عامًا، بالإضافة إلى الأسئلة الجوهرية التي لا تزال دون إجابة بعد نصف قرن.
المدونات الصوتية
التركيز على الشرق الأوسط
البودكاست الأسبوعي الرائد لمعهد الشرق الأوسط حول السياسة الخارجية الأمريكية والقضايا السياسية والاجتماعية المعاصرة في الشرق الأوسط.
Stabilizing the Sinai Peninsula – An Agenda For Action
MEI Podcast, 7 September, 2012 Foundation for Middle East Peace, Middle East Institute, Churches for Middle East Peace, and Americans for Peace Now invite you to a program Stabilizing the Sinai Peninsula – An Agenda For Action with Ambassador (ret.) Arthur Hughes Former Director General of the Sinai Multinational Forces and Observers (MFO) and Geoffrey Aronson Director for Research and Publications Foundation for Middle East Peace Friday September 7, 12:00-1:30 PM Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC Rising lawlessness and violence and an inc
Stabilizing the Sinai Peninsula – An Agenda For Action
MEI Podcast, 7 September, 2012 Foundation for Middle East Peace, Middle East Institute, Churches for Middle East Peace, and Americans for Peace Now invite you to a program Stabilizing the Sinai Peninsula – An Agenda For Action with Ambassador (ret.) Arthur Hughes Former Director General of the Sinai Multinational Forces and Observers (MFO) and Geoffrey Aronson Director for Research and Publications Foundation for Middle East Peace Friday September 7, 12:00-1:30 PM Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC Rising lawlessness and violence and an inc
Stabilizing the Sinai Peninsula – An Agenda For Action
MEI Podcast, 7 September, 2012 Foundation for Middle East Peace, Middle East Institute, Churches for Middle East Peace, and Americans for Peace Now invite you to a program Stabilizing the Sinai Peninsula – An Agenda For Action with Ambassador (ret.) Arthur Hughes Former Director General of the Sinai Multinational Forces and Observers (MFO) and Geoffrey Aronson Director for Research and Publications Foundation for Middle East Peace Friday September 7, 12:00-1:30 PM Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC Rising lawlessness and violence and an inc
Stabilizing the Sinai Peninsula – An Agenda For Action
MEI Podcast, 7 September, 2012 Foundation for Middle East Peace, Middle East Institute, Churches for Middle East Peace, and Americans for Peace Now invite you to a program Stabilizing the Sinai Peninsula – An Agenda For Action with Ambassador (ret.) Arthur Hughes Former Director General of the Sinai Multinational Forces and Observers (MFO) and Geoffrey Aronson Director for Research and Publications Foundation for Middle East Peace Friday September 7, 12:00-1:30 PM Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC Rising lawlessness and violence and an inc
Stabilizing the Sinai Peninsula – An Agenda For Action
MEI Podcast, 7 September, 2012 Foundation for Middle East Peace, Middle East Institute, Churches for Middle East Peace, and Americans for Peace Now invite you to a program Stabilizing the Sinai Peninsula – An Agenda For Action with Ambassador (ret.) Arthur Hughes Former Director General of the Sinai Multinational Forces and Observers (MFO) and Geoffrey Aronson Director for Research and Publications Foundation for Middle East Peace Friday September 7, 12:00-1:30 PM Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC Rising lawlessness and violence and an inc
Podcast, 6 September, 2012 in the MEI Boardman room Turkey and Thailand: Unlikely Twins Ayse Zarakol This is the first of four events in a joint lecture series by Middle East Institute’s Center for Turkish Studies and the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University.
Podcast, 6 September, 2012 in the MEI Boardman room Turkey and Thailand: Unlikely Twins Ayse Zarakol This is the first of four events in a joint lecture series by Middle East Institute’s Center for Turkish Studies and the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University.
Podcast, 6 September, 2012 in the MEI Boardman room Turkey and Thailand: Unlikely Twins Ayse Zarakol This is the first of four events in a joint lecture series by Middle East Institute’s Center for Turkish Studies and the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University.
Podcast, 6 September, 2012 in the MEI Boardman room Turkey and Thailand: Unlikely Twins Ayse Zarakol This is the first of four events in a joint lecture series by Middle East Institute’s Center for Turkish Studies and the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University.
Podcast, 6 September, 2012 in the MEI Boardman room Turkey and Thailand: Unlikely Twins Ayse Zarakol This is the first of four events in a joint lecture series by Middle East Institute’s Center for Turkish Studies and the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University.
The first volume of the migration and the Arab World series dealt primarily with the trends in, consequences of, and policy responses to labor migration in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states since the “oil boom” period of the 1970s. This volume focuses on the countries of the Mashreq (i.e., Egypt and the Levant) as source and destination countries for various migrant groups, dating from the late 19th century up to the present day.
Western Sahara: It’s Time for the People to Choose
The latest diplomatic dance on whether or not former US Ambassador Christopher Ross should be allowed to continue to mediate UN-led talks between the Frente Polisario and Morocco on the future of Western Sahara is symptomatic of a much bigger problem ― the large powers’ unwillingness to advance an end to a dispute that they mistakenly see as peripheral to their strategic interests, and their resultant acquiescence in the brutal and illegal occupation of Western Sahara by Morocco for more than 35 years.
Israeli-Palestinian Peace: The Palestinian Refugee Challenge
Of the four core issues to resolve for an Israeli-Palestinian peace (security, borders/settlements, Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees) it is the refugee question that gets the least attention by non-specialists. And it is the core issue least addressed publically in detail by Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
تُعد المجلة الرئيسية لمعهد الشرق الأوسط أقدم مطبوعة محكّمة مكرّسة لدراسة الشرق الأوسط الحديث، وتغطي المجلة الرئيسية في المعهد السياسة والمجتمع والثقافة في المنطقة.
