Read in-depth research, analysis, and commentary from MEI’s fellows and experts on the Middle East.
The US administration appears to have great expectations for Iraq’s new prime minister, Ali Falah al-Zaidi. But the expectations need to be tempered.
The 2026 Iran war has made Lebanon a core Gulf security concern, and Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar now have a narrow opportunity to curb Hizballah’s influence by leading reconstruction, strengthening Lebanese state institutions, and tying economic re-engagement to reform.
After nearly four months of war, the US and Iran have signed a 14-point memorandum of understanding declaring the conflict over, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and beginning talks toward a final deal. Alan Eyre, MEI Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow and a core member of the 2015 JCPOA negotiating team, joins host Alistair Taylor to unpack the deal’s implications for both countries, its ripple effects across the region, and what a lasting settlement would take.
The Houthis are a political-military faction and Zaydi religious movement founded in northwestern Yemen in the 1980s. A key member of Iran’s Axis of Resistance with links to other militant organizations in the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, the group has continued to pose a threat to Western interests on a global scale.
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.
After a decade of post-Arab Spring isolation, Turkey’s leaders have recognized that their ambition to position the country as an agenda-setter on the world stage requires active engagement in all directions. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s consolidation of executive authority has centralized foreign policy decision-making and tied it to his domestic political priorities, transforming the country’s revisionist approach to one shaped primarily by personal and pragmatic interests.
As the Western Sahara conflict reaches its fifth decade, the territorial dispute remains unresolved and largely unknown. MEI’s Intissar Fakir unpacks the Western Sahara’s complex history and the rival claims by Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. She examines recent developments, such as President Trump’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the territory and the collapse of a 30-year cease-fire, as well as the core questions that remain unanswered after half a century.
MEI’s flagship weekly podcast on US foreign policy and contemporary political and social issues in the Middle East.
MEI Senior Fellow Brian Katulis engages friends, colleagues, and policy experts in casual conversations on the most important happenings in the Middle East.
MEI Senior Fellow Gonul Tol hosts leading scholars and thought leaders on global democracy trends and the state of the liberal international order.
The leader of an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia group has warned that his forces are ready to fight American troops in Syria, Arab media reported. Akram al-Kaabi, the secretary-general of Harakat al-Nujaba, made the comments in response to President Donald Trump’s announcement about imminent missile strikes to punish the regime of Bashar al-Assad for the latest chemical attack in Homs Governorate. Kaabi lashed out at Trump’s remarks on Syria and accused the US president of trying to undo the recent gains of the Assad regime and its allies.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived in Windhoek yesterday to meet with senior Namibian officials and ways to promote bilateral ties between the two countries, Iranian media reported. Soon after arrival, Zarif spoke at a joint economic meeting of Iran and Namibia, which was attended by Namibian Minister of Industrialization, Trade and SME Development Tjekero Tweya. According to Tasnim News Agency, the Iranian top diplomat is also scheduled to hold meetings with the African country’s top political leaders and parliamentary members.
Ali Akbar Velayati, a top advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on foreign affairs, said today that American forces lack the resolve to stay in Syria for the long haul, the Iranian media reported. He described Syria as a critical pillar of the “axis of resistance” which he said begins in Tehran and stretches to Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut and Palestine. “This axis of resistance is against invaders affiliated with Israel and America,” he added.
A representative of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warned today that Iran will respond to the latest Israeli air raids in Syria and stressed that the country will further empower its proxies to confront the United States and its allies across the world.
Read the full article on Daily Beast
The Middle East has withstood a series of major economic shocks over the past decade, and growth is slowly coming back. But sustained high unemployment, especially among women and youth, will continue to put strain on the region’s economic prospects. Jihad Azour, director of the Middle East and Central Asia department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), joins host Paul Salem to survey the economic challenges facing the MENA region.
Read the full article on The American Interest.
Riyadh, 05:40 a.m: It’s the first day of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting. It is a time of intense prayer and introspection for Saudis and more than 1.8 billion Muslims around the world.
Just last week, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted his Russian and Iranian counterparts in Ankara for talks to end the Syrian civil war. The summit of the three leaders was a strong display of unity against a backdrop of rising tensions between them and the United States. The underlying message was that the three countries were calling the shots in Syria, and that President Donald Trump’s announcement that the U.S. would be pulling out soon was right on the spot.
A senior advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has threatened retaliation against Israel and its allies for the latest air strikes on a Syrian air base that killed several Iranian nationals, the Iranian media reported.
Every year at the end of April, like clockwork, tensions rise between Morocco and the Polisario Front, the group leading the disputed region of Western Sahara’s independence movement. The timing coincides with the U.N. secretary-general’s annual report to the U.N. Security Council on the latest developments in the conflict, which is followed by a vote to renew the peacekeeping mission—known as MINURSO—that has been in place in the territory since 1991.
This article, based on personal interviews and conversations conducted in China with 14 men and women in their 20s and 30s from across the Middle East, is intended to shed light on a phenomenon that the author observed while living in China, namely the increasing number of young Middle Easterners who are relocating there in order to obtain academic and professional credentials and experience.
On Monday, the Iranian media reported that a number of the Islamic Republic’s military personnel were killed in a suspected Israeli air strike on a Syrian air base in Homs Governorate.
The oldest peer-reviewed publication dedicated to the study of the modern Middle East, MEI’s flagship journal covers politics, society, and culture in the region.
