Analysis

When discussing the recent deal between Tehran and Washington to release five American prisoners in exchange for Iran gaining access to $6 billion in seized assets in South Korea, Iranian officials use a specific key phrase: “honorable diplomacy.” According to Iranian officials, “honorable diplomacy” means dealing with America and Europe from a position of strength. They claim that, even after the brutal suppression of the 2022 protests, they have successfully used their leverage with foreign adversaries to win unexpected concessions — a claim that, while potentially exaggerated, points to an unprecedented series of developments in recent months.

Two years on from the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, Afghanistan’s neighbors are increasingly concerned that their return to power has emboldened terrorist groups and networks, which are using the hospitable environment to regroup, rearm, and recruit substantially. The main question now for Afghanistan’s neighbors in the region, and the international community more broadly, is just how reliable the Taliban’s counterterrorism assurances to other states really are.

A brutal heat wave tormenting Egypt since mid-July, resulting in lengthy and repeated power cuts, has turned into a political liability for President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi ahead of his expected campaign to run for a third, six-year term early next year.

Efforts to reform the Iraqi Kurdish security forces known as the Peshmerga are at serious risk of failing. Tensions between the ruling parties of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region are not new, but the working relationship between the leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan has collapsed over the past year. As a result, officials within the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs are no longer capable of preventing the politics of partisan self-interest from consuming the reform project. The prospects for the depoliticization and unification of the Peshmerga have rarely seemed more remote.

There are currently over 5.34 million Syrian refugees dispersed in camps, collective shelters, and poor neighborhoods across Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, and Egypt. Many make desperate attempts to find refuge in Europe. Instead of adopting repressive measures and discriminating against these individuals, the U.S. and European countries should work with regional partners and non-governmental organizations to limit the danger to refugees and IDPs.

Syria’s dramatic readmission into the Arab League in May was perceived as a turning point for the country’s fortunes. Although Damascus may have come in from the cold diplomatically, there has been little change on the economic front, where the situation remains dire. Since the start of May, the Syrian pound has lost over 70% of its value and shows no sign of stabilizing.

Kawkaba: Highlights from the Barjeel Art Foundation, a new exhibition of works by artists from across the Middle East and North Africa that opened recently at Christie’s in London, bears the name of the Arabic word for constellation. Fittingly, it shines a light on the region’s mid-century moment when art was often part of a process of post-colonial nation building. The exhibition is a star-studded journey through the region’s 20th century histories and aesthetics, showcasing lesser-known artists along with the greats.

It has been two months since Turkey’s new economic team took over and some progress has been made. Market normalization has begun and the risk of a balance-of-payments crisis has been reduced. At the same time, however, inflation is gaining new momentum, the budget deficit is sharply worsening, and no reform agenda has yet been announced to tackle these threats.

Forging a deal establishing open, normal bilateral ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel would be a major feat with plenty of potential perils along the way — the diplomatic equivalent of climbing Mount Everest. If done right, the result would be historic and transformative for the Middle East with positive geopolitical repercussions. Here are five factors to watch as the Biden administration continues its efforts to produce a major diplomatic breakthrough in the region.

As a trailblazer in hydrogen diplomacy, Japan is seeking to develop a new pattern of energy interdependence with its longstanding partners, the Gulf Arab states — countries that are promising production bases for and exporters of green hydrogen and ammonia, and whose leaders have come to regard the development of clean hydrogen as an attractive way to diversify their economies.

It’s been a long, hot summer in Israel, not only because of the multiple heat waves, but also due to the domestic political developments that have been heating up throughout 2023 and are now reaching a boiling point. With the Supreme Court gearing up to make highly consequential decisions in September and the Knesset in recess until mid-October, it is a good time to look back at all that Israel has gone through since the beginning of the year. For some on the Israeli right, it is a midsummer night’s dream come true, but for a large number of Israelis, it seems like more of a nightmare.

Although it has fallen off the international news cycle, Baghdad is booming, high on rising oil prices and full, once again, of neo-Abbasid, petroleum-fueled aspirations. Thanks to new anti-money laundering legislation, funds are being funneled not only into hotels and real estate but also into new cultural enterprises. So what does culture in Iraq look like in 2023?

Three years on from the Beirut port blast, Hezbollah, with the support of Lebanon’s political elite, has managed to obstruct and even quash the domestic judicial process for holding those responsible for the explosion accountable and delivering justice to both victims and a battered nation. The international community must uphold its responsibility toward the Lebanese people by enabling a U.N. fact-finding mission to investigate the blast, sanctioning those responsible for obstructing justice, and making ending impunity the centerpiece of international mediation on the Lebanese crisis.

As Israel grapples with fundamental questions of identity and societal fissures years in the making, Iran and its Axis of Resistance continue to employ their escalation-ready approach of pushing the envelope in multiple geographic theaters, launching cyber operations to foment disunity in Israeli society, and attempting to neutralize the regional gains Israel has made after signing the Abraham Accords with several Arab neighbors in 2020.