Analysis

Read the full article on The Hill

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will land in the U.S. on March 19 as part of a three week, multi-city tour. It’s his first extended foreign travel, which has already taken him to London, since being named Saudi heir apparent in June 2017.

Rex Tillerson’s unhappy tenure at State Department ends with a whimper – Gerald Feierstein        

Rex Tillerson was never an easy fit for the Trump administration. His management of the State Department was a source of constant frustration for the career staff as well as Capitol Hill. On policy issues, Tillerson hewed more closely than Trump to establishment Republican positions. Allied with Secretary of Defense Mattis and National Security Advisor McMaster, Tillerson often acted as an anchor against the president’s more aggressive impulses.

The plight of the Iranian dual national, dozens of whom have been detained by Iranian authorities in the past two decades, was tragically brought back into the headlines with the death of Kavous Seyed Emami. The 63-year-old Iranian-Canadian founder of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, who died in solitary confinement at Evin Prison on Feb. 9, had been imprisoned with other environmentalists on trumped-up charges of “espionage.”

When President Donald Trump announced that the United States would move its embassy to Jerusalem on December 6, 2017, he effectively recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This essay examines India’s response to this development, in the broader context of its evolving relationship with Israel and with the United States.

The creation and expansion of Iranian-backed “resistance” forces in Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Yemen and Lebanon serve Iran’s national security interests and have created panic in Israel, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), said today.

In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Gerald Feierstein, Alex Vatanka, Nathan Stock, and Randa Slim provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including the Senate’s decision to pull out of Yemen, enduring Iran-Pakistan political strain, Egypt’s role in Palestinian reconciliation, and America’s dissolving influence in Syria.

Read the full article on The National Interest 

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Ground Force (IRGC-GF) said today that its troops foiled attempts buy suicide bombers trying to attack one of its bases in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan near the Pakistani border,

President Donald Trump’s potential meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has drawn a great deal of attention in Tehran. Iranian media outlets and analysts debate how the historic summit could impact US policy vis-à-vis the Islamic Republic. Many articles, particularly in reformist publications, warn that a possible thaw in Washington-Pyongyang relations would help the Trump administration to pursue a more assertive policy against Tehran.

The spokesman of Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, a militia unit within Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Force (PMF) with close ties with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, welcomed Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s decree giving PMF members equal salaries and benefits as those of regular military personnel, but emphasized that the PMF paramilitary forces will will not be merged into any of the country’s security institutions. According to AAH spokesman Naim al-Abudi, the PMF – also known by its Arabic name Hashd al-Shaabi – has 140,000 members, including 122,000 combatants.

As Palestinians confront U.S. President Donald Trump’s “deal of the century,” the debilitating effect of endemic, internal division within their ranks continues to define their domestic political landscape. 

The Middle East is the world’s most arid region and the one most dependent on renewable freshwater resources that originate outside its territories. These resources are largely contained in the Nile, Euphrates-Tigris, and Jordan river basins. An international law-based approach to transboundary watercourse development and management is vital for human security and regional stability. Applying legal principles in the Nile Basin is imperative, as unilateral actions by upstream countries can harm livelihoods on a large scale in downstream countries and destabilize their economies.

Scores of angry Iranian farmers clashed with local security forces in the central province of Isfahan over a water dispute, the BBC Persian reported. The police used tear gas to disperse the protesters, who were chanting antigovernment slogans.

A summit of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo called on Iran to stop its “expansionist policies” and interference in the internal affairs of the Arab countries – drawing an angry response from the Iranian foreign ministry.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi yesterday issued a decree on the inclusion of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in the country’s security forces, the Iranian and Lebanese media reported. According to the Abadi’s order, the paramilitary forces, also known by its Arabic name Hashd al-Shaabi, will receive equivalent salaries and other benefits as the country’s military personnel under the Ministry of Defense. The PMF forces from now on also can enroll in military colleges and institutions and will be subject to the country’s military service laws and regulations.