Join the Middle East Institute (MEI) for an on-the-record conversation examining the Gulf states’ stance amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran. Tehran’s retaliatory attacks across the Gulf have disrupted a region that has spent years positioning itself as a stable global business hub. These states now face a critical choice: maintain neutrality or respond to Iran’s escalating actions.
The discussion will feature MEI Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Arabian Peninsula Affairs, Daniel Benaim, along with MEI Associate Fellow and Persian Gulf scholar, F. Gregory Gause III. This conversation will be moderated Dr. Ken Pollack, MEI’s Vice President for Policy.
Speakers
Daniel Benaim previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Arabian Peninsula Affairs and NSC Senior Director for Speechwriting and Strategic Initiatives and Special Assistant to the President. As Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Arabian Peninsula from 2021-2025, he took part in a range of initiatives, including diplomacy to end regional wars, and competition with China in the Middle East.
F. Gregory Gause III is an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC, and Professor Emeritus of International Affairs at the Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University, from which he retired in January 2025. From fall 2014 through summer 2022 he served as Head of the School’s Department of International Affairs.
Dr. Ken Pollack is Vice President for Policy at the Middle East Institute. Dr. Pollack began his career as a Persian Gulf military analyst at the CIA and served twice on the National Security Council, first as Director for Near East and South Asian affairs and then as Director for Persian Gulf affairs.
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