Wars don’t just end. They get interpreted, reinterpreted, and turned into strategic doctrine. That is what happened after the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, a conflict that saw the United States back Tehran’s Iraqi adversaries. The war taught Tehran three lessons it never unlearned: that Washington wants the Islamic Republic gone, that Iran stands essentially alone in the world, and that it cannot survive a direct, overt fight with the U.S. and Israel.
Within 48 hours this week, Iran filled six of the most important posts in its battered military and security establishment. Read together with the biographies and mandates behind them, the appointments show how Tehran is drawing lessons from successive wars and preparing for a prolonged period of insecurity, without proving it has abandoned negotiation.
In an August 9 interview with Axios, when asked about the endless swings of the Iran standoff, he shrugged it off as familiar territory. “It’ll work out in the end. It always does. It’s like a chess game.”
Since 1967, Israeli settlements in the West Bank have been a contested feature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The ultimate disposition of the settlements and ongoing activity related to their growth have repeatedly defied agreement in negotiations over a resolution to the conflict.
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.
The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) is a proposed multinational infrastructure initiative aimed at upgrading connectivity between the three regions through integrated trade, energy, and digital networks. Announced at the G20 summit in New Delhi in September 2023, IMEC is envisioned partially as a counterweight to China’s international infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative.
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.
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Middle East Focus
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.
Top Khamenei advisor visiting Syria says Iranian-led forces will expel US from region
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.
Iran to empower "axis of resistance" and retaliate against Israel and US for Syria strikes, warns cleric
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.
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.
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.
Top Khamenei adviser threatens retaliation against Israel for Syria strikes
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.
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen fire ballistic missiles at Riyadh
With international attention focused on the escalating tension in Syria, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen today fired several ballistic missiles at military and civilian targets in Saudi Arabia,
The hollow war drums of the Western Sahara conflict
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.
Middle Eastern Students and Young Professionals in China: A Mutual Investment in the Future
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.
IRGC outlets delete reports of Iranian casualties in suspected Israeli strikes in Syria
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.
Rouhani calls for continued Tehran-Moscow cooperation in Syria in wake of chemical attack
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Monday praised his close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and emphasized that Tehran and Moscow should continue their cooperation in Syria until the complete establishment of security and stability in the war-torn country, the Iranian media reported. “Close relations and cooperation between Iran and Russia have been very effective in Syria and for peace and security across the region,” Rouhani said in a meeting with Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of Russia’s State Duma (lower house of parliament), who is visiting Tehran leading a parlia
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Robert S. Ford, Gerald Feierstein, Randa Slim, and Alex Vatanka provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including the chemical attack on Douma, Sheikh Tamim’s Tuesday meeting with Trump, Lebanese parliamentary elections, Moroccan and Algerian tension over Western Sahara, and Iran and India’s strategic partnership.
UAE official calls for international action to end “Iranian occupation” of disputed islands
A senior official of the United Arab Emirates has called on Iran to end its “occupation” of the three islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, and the Lesser Tunb, the Arab press reported. Marwan Ahmad bin Ghalaita, the first voice president of UAE’s Federal National Council (FNC), said the UAE has a firm position on the three disputed islands and will not abandon its claim over them. He stressed that the dispute can either be resolved through negotiations between Iran and UAE or Abu Dhabi will report the case to the International Court of Justice for arbitration.
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.
