Research & Commentary Results

This article examines the changing volume and allocations of investment flows between China and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states over the last two decades, roughly from 2003 to the present.

This backgrounder provides an overview of the Axis of Resistance, a loosely aligned network of armed groups and state actors led and supported by Iran to project its influence and military strength across the Middle East.

This backgrounder provides an overview of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), including its history, structure, and function, and the US government’s approach to the organization.

Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince, prime minister, and main decision-maker in Saudi Arabia, left Washington and his summit with President Donald Trump with a number of promises made and commitments received. But several questions, including on shared diplomatic agenda items, the extent of civilian nuclear cooperation, and the nature of the American defense commitment to Saudi Arabia, remain unanswered.

The MENA Energy Recap is a quarterly review of key energy developments that took place in the region from July through September of 2025 and what they signal in the months ahead. The Recap views these developments through the lens of policy and strategy, energy security, and markets.

For Iran, Iraq is strategic depth, political sanctuary, and economic lifeline all at once. The results of the November 11 Iraqi elections will decide who in Baghdad controls the budgetary levers, internal security appointments, and committees that could codify, or constrain, Iraq’s Iran-backed militias.

This backgrounder provides an overview of how the Abraham Accords came about, the US interests involved, their economic and strategic consequences, and the prospects for further enlargement going forward.

On November 18, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is scheduled to make his first trip to Washington since 2018. In a new MEI Policy Memo, Daniel Benaim breaks down why it matters for the US and the relevant policy considerations.

On October 31, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution centering Morocco’s autonomy plan as the basis for resolving the Western Sahara conflict. The UN vote and comments from United States Special Envoy Steve Witkoff suggest President Donald Trump wants another headline foreign policy “peacemaking” win. But the opportunity for the Trump administration is bigger than just resolving the Western Sahara issue. It could unlock an opportunity for Morocco-Algeria reconciliation that could integrate the wider Maghreb economy, reduce migration into Europe, expand energy cooperation, and enable stronger Sahel counter-terrorism coordination.

Over the past week, US President Donald Trump made an extended trip to Asia and threatened military actions against Latin American and African countries. But despite his administration’s continuing ambitions in the Middle East region, few major breakthroughs are expected there in the immediate future due to the government shutdown and unilateral cuts to national security infrastructure.

For years, the prevailing assumption was that the Houthis’ survival depended on battlefield victories and Iranian support. Both are essential, but there is a third critical and often overlooked factor: the weaponization of international engagement. In a pattern that continues to repeat itself, engagement without accountability strengthens rather than moderates Houthi behavior.

For decades, the 1979 takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran has symbolized the righteousness of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s revolutionary defiance and the legitimacy of “resistance” as state ideology. To question it is to pry open the logic of the entire enterprise.

President Donald Trump continued to rewrite the playbook of US foreign policy this summer and early fall, with mixed results on the global stage but producing some important openings for progress in the Middle East due to a negotiated Gaza cease-fire and hostage-release deal.

US President Donald Trump started off his week by flying to Israel and Egypt to mark the Gaza cease-fire and release of the last remaining Israeli hostages. But as these positive developments unfolded in the Middle East, the Trump administration’s overall agenda remained weighed down on other fronts.