Gulf and Arabian Peninsula

Read MEI’s weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.

The GCC governments still cover over 40% of the cost of domestic electricity production. Yet, electricity subsidy bills alone do not reflect the full extent of their economic losses. Once the forgone revenues from the export of natural gas and oil used to meet rising domestic energy demand are added in, the total economic cost of the GCC’s electricity is too great to ignore.

The recent agreement to restore diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran raised hope among Western leaders and some Yemen watchers that it could help bring an end to the war in Yemen. The international community, however, can do more harm than good if its actions are driven by hope and desperation rather than a careful reading of the reality on the ground. Yemen must not be a sacrificial lamb for improving relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Two weeks ago, on March 10, Iran said it would restore diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia after a seven-year rupture as part of a deal brokered by China. The agreement, reached in Beijing, is the result of almost a year and a half of mostly quiet talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia, facilitated by a host of countries including China, Iraq, Oman, Russia, and the United States.

Water resources are a key component of global sustainability, especially in light of the mounting environmental challenges posed by climate change. We asked some of MEI’s Climate and Water Program scholars to share their perspective on strategies and opportunities that could most readily alleviate the region’s water security concerns.

Now that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has clarified what he expects from Washington in return for normalizing ties with Israel—mainly U.S. security guarantees—the question is: Should U.S. decision-makers accept his price?

Read MEI’s weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.

The painful reality is that Washington’s hastily cobbled together ethno-sectarian political system for post-2003 Iraq ended up doing the opposite of what it intended. The regional domino effect was also the opposite of what the U.S. had hoped for, as Iraq became a cautionary tale that regimes could use to undermine the democratic desires of their own populations.

As part of a continued collaboration with the Middle East Peace and Security Forum held in Iraqi Kurdistan at the American University of Kurdistan, the Middle East Institute and the Iraq Policy Group held a workshop on Nov.15, 2022 focusing on challenges of economic diversification, energy transition, and impacts on labor markets in Iraq and the Gulf region. This report provides the insights and analyses of a select group of participants from the workshop.

Despite Iraq’s systemic and ongoing domestic instability, division, and foreign interference, there are fragile but hopeful signs of de-confliction and de-escalation. These include important efforts that a number of international actors as well as the government in Bagdad itself have been making to turn Iraq into a platform for regional engagement.

Read MEI’s weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan leader Bafel Talabani is a frequent visitor to Baghdad, traveling to Iraq’s capital an estimated 35 times since the beginning of 2022 or more than once every two weeks on average. It is indicative of a deliberate strategy by the PUK to increase its activity within Iraq’s federal system, making it a priority, rather than merely an afterthought, to political affairs in the Kurdistan Region.

The next few decades will be crucial for Iraq and the KRG as global changes reshape the energy sector. The push for sustainable development, the Paris Agreement climate goals, and associated efforts in areas like renewable energy, climate change, and environmental protection will bring about a transition across the sector, affecting everything from employment and working patterns to governance.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy is converting two merchant container ships into vessels capable of carrying and launching combat drones against maritime or coastal targets. For now, Iran’s drone carriers are unlikely to pose a clear and present danger to the U.S., but they possess symbolic significance as a potential tool to defy American initiatives in the Middle East and respond to Israel’s attacks against Iran.