This backgrounder provides an overview of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a regional political and economic alliance comprising six states in the Arabian Peninsula: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
The US-Iran standoff over the Strait of Hormuz — disruptive to global trade and energy flows, and devastating for debt-burdened economies — has handed Pakistan an unexpected geoeconomic opportunity, one that may persist even if the framework agreement announced on June 14 results in a lasting peace and permanent reopening of the strait. But seizing it will have interlocking consequences for Islamabad’s ties with Tehran, Washington, and the Gulf states.
As the US and Iran move to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the war’s real lesson lies in how Gulf states rapidly adapted — building pipelines, ports, and rail to bypass the chokepoint. Washington should seize this momentum, pursuing a “long game” of regional connectivity that serves shared security and economic interests.
The deputy chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces has revealed that the country has started discussions with certain states to joint fight terrorist in West Asia, the Iranian media reported. “The Islamic Republic of Iran is trying to uproot terrorism completely in the region in cooperation with other West Asian states; therefore, it has started contacts with the countries which herald establishment of tranquility in the sensitive West Asia region,” Brigadier General Massoud Jazzayeri said.
A senior Iranian official has cautioned that the Trump administration has waged an economic war against the Islamic Republic, particularly targeting the country’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.). “If the Americans were able to attack Iran, they would have done so a few years ago,” Mohsen Rezaei, the Secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council, said at a gathering of members of the I.R.G.C. and Basij Force in Hamadan Province on Thursday. The former I.R.G.C.
A senior commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Force (P.M.F.) has announced that forces from al-Hashd al-Turkmani will play a major role in the military operation to liberate the city of Tal Afar from the Islamic State, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported today. Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the chief operational commander and deputy head of the P.M.F., made the statement after meeting with the leaders of Hashd al-Turkmani, a P.M.F. unit close to Iran and strongly anti-American.
Turkey has three options to tackle a looming threat to its national security emanating from the situation in Syria’s Idlib Province, according to an an
The Middle East Dialogue, a regional Track 1.5 group in which officials and non-officials from the region and beyond meet to discuss current issues in their personal capacities, met May 12-13 in Malta. Read the full report (PDF).
Executive Summary
Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has warned that U.S. Ambassador to U.N. Nikki Haley’s visit to Vienna is aimed at undermining the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (J.C.P.O.A.) – the nuclear deal Iran signed with world powers two years ago. In a letter to International Atomic Energy Agency (I.A.E.A.) Director-General Yukiya Amano, Zarif asked the international watchdog not to disclose any sensitive and secretive information about Iran’s nuclear activities to Haley or any other third party.
Iraqi Kurdistan’s democratic future and stability is at risk, and one party and family is especially closely linked to the crisis. In recent years, the Barzani family and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (K.D.P.) have consolidated power while displaying indifference to rule of law when facing critics or uncooperative minorities. This creeping autocracy should urgently concern those hoping to see a stable new democracy in a troubled region. On September 25, the Kurdish region is due to hold its independence referendum.
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) today rejected a claim by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the two countries were planning to launch a joint military operation against Kurdish militants in the region, the Iranian media reported. “We have not planned any operations outside the Islamic Republic of Iran’s borders,” said a statement released by the Guards on Tuesday.
The top Iranian nuclear official has warned that his country can resume high-level uranium enrichment within days if the Trump administration annuls the nuclear agreement Tehran signed with world powers two years ago. “This is not an empty threat,” Ali Akbar Salehi said in a Tuesday interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, backing President Hassan Rouhani’s similar remarks last week.
The new Iranian defense minister has reiterated that he will continue to support the Quds Force and the “resistance front” and will only further enhance the country’s controversial missile program and other defense capabilities.
The Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government’s decision to hold an independence referendum next month would further strain relations between Erbil and Baghdad and risks triggering intra-Kurdish violence, warns an article in Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.).
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Yousef Munayyer, Paul Salem, Ahmad Majidyar, Alex Vatanka, and Gonul Tol provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including the upcoming trip by the U.S. delegation headed by Jared Kushner to Israel/Palestine, Iraq’s anti-ISIS operation in Tal Afar, President Trump’s upcoming announcement on U.S. military strategy in Afghanistan, Iran’s efforts to find a role in China’s One Belt, One Road project, and Turkey’s rocky relations with Germany.
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.
