Read MEI’s weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.
Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) is the U.S. military’s name for the international intervention to defeat ISIS in Syria and Iraq starting in 2014. While OIR has been a success, it has necessarily been imperfect. Throughout the campaign, cost-benefit calculations made by policymakers led to missed opportunities and possibly a longer conflict. These decisions will have lasting repercussions that could undermine the hard-won victory against ISIS, as well as the ability to partner in future interventions. In particular, the United States mishandled its partner relationships in the war to defeat ISIS. Political considerations apparently won out against supporting and sustaining the SDF, our military partner forces.
“بينما تعد ندرة المياه في إيران وبقية دول الشرق الأوسط مشكلة طويلة الأمد، فإن بعض الجهود للتعامل معها تبدو محاولات يائسة ولم يتم التخطيط لها دائمًا بعناية”.
Read MEI’s weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.
With the approach of Iraq’s next parliamentary elections in October 2021, pro-reform candidates are facing troubling obstacles as they prepare to compete against the country’s establishment parties, which include armed militias that have dominated Iraq’s parliament since 2018. To ensure a fair electoral playing field, reformers are asking the international community to quickly step up elections-related assistance and planned oversight, as well as publicly reaffirm a readiness to call out observed violations.
Iran and Iraq are frequently at odds over water issues. Iraq depends on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for nearly all of its water. But Iran is building dams to redivert some of that water, causing alarm and creating major water shortages for Iraq.
Despite the importance of cyberattacks, little has been written about the relationship between these attacks and the applicable law. States are still struggling with controversies involving definitions, even though there is wide applicability of both laws and norms in this context. As a result, cyberspace remains relatively anarchic and the continued controversies have impeded further progress. Although the global discussion has only just begun, it is clear that the rising prevalence of state-led cyber operations warrants a thoughtful, innovative, and immediate regulatory response. Pressure has been building on the governments of the Middle East to join the conversation as their relevance and power in the cyber domain grows.
Read MEI’s weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.
Alex Vatanka joins host Alistair Taylor to discuss the future of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the branch of the Iranian military charged with safeguarding the Islamic Republic, and its proxy warfare strategy.
In a new policy briefing book, entitled The Biden Administration and the Middle East: Policy Recommendations for a Sustainable Way Forward, MEI scholars tackle a large number of country-specific and region-wide issue areas, laying out both the abiding U.S. interests and specific recommendations for Biden administration policies that can further U.S. interests amid a region in turmoil.
“طهران أعطت إشارات مشجعة حول بدء محادثات غير رسمية مع الولايات المتحدة بشأن برنامجها النووي يوم الجمعة”.
On Feb. 4, President Joe Biden announced the end of U.S. support for the Saudi Arabia-led coalition’s offensive military operations in Yemen. This decision fuelled optimism about a U.S. return to negotiations over the JCPOA with Iran. Instead of engaging with the United States, Iran has supported the Houthi-orchestrated Marib offensive and stepped up its diplomatic efforts in Yemen.
Read MEI’s weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.
For many decades, Iran and Saudi Arabia have been bitter rivals, but not over women. If there was a competition, it was only over whose government could impose more limitations on their female population.
Iran is an Islamic country where, according to official statistics, over 99% of the citizens are Muslim. Even though the state in Iran advocates for Islamic laws and regulations for all citizens, over 60% of Iranians identified themselves as non-Muslim according to a survey in June 2020 by the research institute “the Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran” (GAMAAN). Only 32.2% of the 40.000 interviewed identified themselves as Shi‘a Muslim; 5% as Sunni Muslim; 22.2% as non-religious; 8.8% identified themselves as atheist; 7.1% as spiritual and 7.7% as Zoroastrian.