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.
Podcasts
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.
Explaining India’s Position on Jerusalem and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
When President Donald Trump announced that the United States would move its embassy to Jerusalem on December 6, 2017, he effectively recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This essay examines India’s response to this development, in the broader context of its evolving relationship with Israel and with the United States.
IRGC chief: Expansion of Basij-like “resistance” groups in region has rattled Israel
The creation and expansion of Iranian-backed “resistance” forces in Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Yemen and Lebanon serve Iran’s national security interests and have created panic in Israel, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), said today.
Monday Briefing: Senate moves to end US engagement in Yemen conflict
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Gerald Feierstein, Alex Vatanka, Nathan Stock, and Randa Slim provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including the Senate’s decision to pull out of Yemen, enduring Iran-Pakistan political strain, Egypt’s role in Palestinian reconciliation, and America’s dissolving influence in Syria.
IRGC says suicide assailants attacked its base near Pakistan’s border
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Ground Force (IRGC-GF) said today that its troops foiled attempts buy suicide bombers trying to attack one of its bases in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan near the Pakistani border,
Iranian outlets analyze implications of Trump-Kim meeting on Iran nuclear deal
President Donald Trump’s potential meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has drawn a great deal of attention in Tehran. Iranian media outlets and analysts debate how the historic summit could impact US policy vis-à-vis the Islamic Republic. Many articles, particularly in reformist publications, warn that a possible thaw in Washington-Pyongyang relations would help the Trump administration to pursue a more assertive policy against Tehran.
Iran-backed group says Hashd al-Shaabi will not merge into Iraq’s security institutions
The spokesman of Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, a militia unit within Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Force (PMF) with close ties with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, welcomed Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s decree giving PMF members equal salaries and benefits as those of regular military personnel, but emphasized that the PMF paramilitary forces will will not be merged into any of the country’s security institutions. According to AAH spokesman Naim al-Abudi, the PMF – also known by its Arabic name Hashd al-Shaabi – has 140,000 members, including 122,000 combatants.
The way forward for Palestine: Fatah, Hamas and Dahlan
As Palestinians confront U.S. President Donald Trump’s “deal of the century,” the debilitating effect of endemic, internal division within their ranks continues to define their domestic political landscape.
Sub-Saharan Africa must respect North Africa's water rights
The Middle East is the world’s most arid region and the one most dependent on renewable freshwater resources that originate outside its territories. These resources are largely contained in the Nile, Euphrates-Tigris, and Jordan river basins. An international law-based approach to transboundary watercourse development and management is vital for human security and regional stability. Applying legal principles in the Nile Basin is imperative, as unilateral actions by upstream countries can harm livelihoods on a large scale in downstream countries and destabilize their economies.
Iranian protesters clash with police over water dispute in Isfahan
Scores of angry Iranian farmers clashed with local security forces in the central province of Isfahan over a water dispute, the BBC Persian reported. The police used tear gas to disperse the protesters, who were chanting antigovernment slogans.
Arab summit calls on Iran to end “expansionist policies”, return disputed islands to UAE
A summit of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo called on Iran to stop its “expansionist policies” and interference in the internal affairs of the Arab countries – drawing an angry response from the Iranian foreign ministry.
Iran-backed militia groups will receive full military benefits under new decree
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi yesterday issued a decree on the inclusion of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in the country’s security forces, the Iranian and Lebanese media reported. According to the Abadi’s order, the paramilitary forces, also known by its Arabic name Hashd al-Shaabi, will receive equivalent salaries and other benefits as the country’s military personnel under the Ministry of Defense. The PMF forces from now on also can enroll in military colleges and institutions and will be subject to the country’s military service laws and regulations.
U.S.-Russia Dialogue and Preventing Regional Confrontation
Irina Zvyagelskaya, of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow and Randa Slim, director of MEI’s Program on Conflict Resolution and Track II Dialogues, join host Paul Salem to discuss U.S. and Russian efforts to find shared interests in the region, from Syria to Yemen, and to avoid confrontation and escalation.
Saudi-Turkish relations hit a new low point this week after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman referred to Turkey as part of a “triangle of evil” alongside Iran and Islamic extremists.
Regional cooperation in the Middle East: the Baghdad Declaration
Since 2014, the Middle East Institute (MEI) has convened the Middle East Dialogue, a Track 1.5 initiative involving current and former officials and senior experts from across the Middle East as well as from China, Europe, Russia and the United States. These meetings focus on the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and on the principles and architecture of a new regional cooperation framework in the Middle East. At the Dialogue’s most recent meeting in Baghdad, the group issued a consensus document outlining Good Neighborhood Principles for the Middle East.
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.
