Research & Commentary Results

In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Allen Keiswetter, Gerald Feierstein, Eran Etzion, and Randa Slim provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including this week’s G-20 Summit, the ongoing G.C.C. crisis, Indian PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel, and the Astana talks on Syria.

Middle East to Loom Large at G-20 Summit
Allen Keiswetter, MEI Scholar

The Iranian Navy has deployed its newest warships, missile systems and Special Forces units to the Caspian Sea for a five-day naval exercise, the

A senior Iranian official has said that Tehran will continue to further enhance its missile program despite U.S.

Ammar al-Hakim, the head of Iraq’s Shiite ruling coalition, has said that the Baghdad government will not allow a single foreign soldier to remain in Iraq after the fight against the Islamic State is over, Iranian media reported on Monday. Fars News Agency, an outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolution G

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said that all centers of power in Iran should work together to seek the support of European and Asian powers to isolate the United States, the

The Iranian embassy in Tajikistan has shut down its economic and cultural offices in northern parts of the country, the BBC Persian reported today.

The Iranian parliament is finalizing a bill to increase the annual budget for the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.), the Iranian media reported. The estimated surplus budget of more than half a billion dollars is specifically designed to help the I.R.G.C. to further enhance the country’s missile program and military activities in the region. The move came as a response to the latest U.S. Senate legislation that would impose new sanctions against Iran’s missile program.

The road to Haraniyya, a formerly rural area just beyond the Giza pyramids, is now an eight-lane highway flanked by red-brick buildings packed and stacked as if designed by some demented cubist. But take the exit, cross a canal and tucked behind a wall of residential towers, the Museum of Adam Henein exists in magical contrast, a verdant stronghold of living art, and one of Cairo’s hidden treasures.

Idlib is currently the site of increasing competition between the two most dominant armed coalitions, the al-Qaeda-linked Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (H.T.S.) and Ahrar al-Sham. The province has witnessed limited airstrikes since a de-escalation agreement, which came into effect on May 5, was brokered by Russia, Turkey, and Iran at the Astana talks. Idlib was one of four areas labeled as a de-escalation zone.

A senior Iranian official called on the Trump administration to avoid taking any further military action against the Syrian government and its allies and threatened that any such move would not go unanswered.

Iran’s anti-narcotics police forces have seized more than 16 tons of illicit drugs in the southern province of Hormozgan, the Iranian media reported. According to Hormozgan’s Police Chief Brigadier General Azizollah Maleki, the security forces confiscated the drugs from 219 vehicles over the past three months.

The ongoing Saudi-led blockade of Qatar came as a surprise to the international community, including the European Union. When Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., Egypt, and Bahrain cut ties with the Qatari monarchy, the E.U. found itself in a new and complex political reality. Though the intra-Gulf crisis had been simmering for quite a long time, it seems that the Europeans were not prepared for such a scenario. Ultimately, Europe must consider the severity of the current crisis’ potential diplomatic and economic consequences.

With the Islamic State collapsing in Iraq and losing ground in Syria, Iran and its regional proxies see the United States as the primary threat to their influence and ambitions and have stepped up efforts to oust the U.S. military from the region. Through diplomatic outreach – and at times veiled threats – Iranian leaders have been urging the Afghan and Iraqi governments to expel American forces from their countries. Tehran has also deepened its ties with the Taliban and has reportedly teamed up with Moscow to undermine U.S.-led stabilization efforts in war-torn Afghanistan.

This essay looks at five North African states, arguing that the armed forces — for a variety of often case-specific reasons — are actually not as politically powerful and thus influential in foreign policy-making as one might expect. It first discusses the political strength of the military establishments of five North African states — Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt — and then investigates the difference, if any, that the recent Arab upheavals have made in their involvement in foreign policy-making.

The Durand Line issue has continued to complicate the unpredictable nature of the Afghan-Pakistani relationship since the birth of Pakistan. Constant tension haunts their neighborly relations, as apprehensions and suspicions co-exist with some affable gestures. No Afghan government, including the present one headed by President Ashraf Ghani, has ever recognized the legitimacy of the Durand Line, which runs through mountainous terrain and remains largely unpoliced.