After decades of political setbacks, Iran’s former Revolutionary Guards commander has returned to the center of power. Is he an incidental beneficiary of war, or have observers underestimated him all along?
Gulf states and their partners are increasingly looking beyond their most immediate interests of containing the war with Iran. While recent talks between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, and Iran have kept de-escalation on the agenda, a broader regional security framework and non-aggression pact has also emerged, envisioning a longer-lasting solution to regional conflicts. The talks have yet to produce a settlement, but they reflect a growing recognition that Gulf security cannot depend entirely on Washington. Iran will still be there, and its neighbors will have to find ways of living with it.
Recent elections for the Israeli Knesset and American Congress may make less of a difference in the Middle East than some people think. Elections are significant indicators of national political trends, but do not always translate into changes in national security strategies. That is likely the case now in both nations.
November 2, 2017 – Charles Lister, director of MEI’s Extremism and Counterterrorism program, discusses what the recent terror attack in lower Manhattan, and the suspect’s claimed connection to ISIS, means for U.S. security and counterterrorism policy.
It was a magical moment to come after so many years of anticipation, when the platform below the Louvre Abu Dhabi was carefully flooded with sea water from the surrounding Gulf.
A leader of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (P.M.F.) announced today that the paramilitary forces will participate in the military operation to capture the town of al-Qaim in western Anbar Province near the Syrian border. He added that Islamic State fighters are fleeing into Syria. According to Iran’s Fars News Agency, the P.M.F. and Iraqi security forces are 13 kilometers away from the center of al-Qaim.
The C.I.A.’s latest release of documents seized during the 2011 Osama bin Laden raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan is the latest attempt by the Trump administration to “conspire” against the Islamic Republic, warned Fars News Agency, an Iranian outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.). “The newly published Abbottabad documents practically have nothing new but claims that have already been made.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said it is a “sacred” and “collective” duty of all Muslims to fight against Israel. In a message to the 2nd International conference of Resistance Scholars held in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, the supreme leader stressed that Muslims should “diversify” their struggle against the Jewish state.
In the latest sign of warming relations between Iran and Russia, President Vladimir Putin arrived in Tehran today to participate in a trilateral summit with Iran and Azerbaijan on regional cooperation and held meetings with Iran’s leadership to discuss ways of boosting bilateral ties between Moscow and Tehran.
Iran does not need to increase the range of its ballistic missiles beyond 2,000 kilometers at present because American military bases and interests lie within this radius, the chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) said on Tuesday.
The chief of staff of Iranian Armed Forces said on Monday that the country will reopen all its border crossings with the Iraqi Kurdistan region, Iranian media reported.
Akram al-Kaabi, the leader of Iranian-sponsored Iraqi militia group Harakat al-Nujaba, visited prominent Lebanese Shiite cleric Sheikh Afif al-Nabulsi to discuss regional affairs, Iranian and
A front-page article in Kayhan newspaper, entitled “The Mother of All Sanctions Has Arrived,” warns that the implementation of the “Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act” – a congressional bill that
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Randa Slim, Yousef Munayyer, Charles Lister, Charles Schmitz, and Alex Vatanka provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including President Barzani’s decision to step down from the KRG, the Trump administation’s silent response to Israeli settlement expansion in Jerusalem , the Armed Syrian Opposition’s attendance of the seventh round of Astana Talks, Saudi foreign minister blaming Iran for lack of progress in peace talks in Yemen, and President Rouhani’s failure to advance the reform cause in Iran.
Defying U.S. pressure, Iranian leaders said on Monday that they would not allow international inspectors to visit the country’s military sites. Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with visiting chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency Yukiya Amano in Tehran, Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, claimed that there are no provisions within the 2015 nuclear agreement or in the Additional Protocol that would obligate Tehran to permit foreign inspection of its military installations.
The heads of Iran’s executive, legislative and judicial branches met today to discuss how Iran should respond to the Trump administration’s aggressive policy vis-à-vis the Islamic Republic. In the meeting, President Hassan Rouhani, Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani and Judicary Chief Sadegh Larijani focused on the latest U.S. sanctions and their impact on the country’s economy. Rouhani said the United States is “plotting” to undermine the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear agreement Iran signed with world powers in July 2015.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited Turkey on Wednesday to discuss potential joint steps against northern Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (K.R.G.) following last month’s independence referendum. Ankara is hoping to influence Iraqi politics by cultivating close ties to Baghdad, but the newly forged Turkish-Iraqi alliance is unlikely to hold, leaving Turkey isolated in the post-referendum Iraq.
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.
