The Other MoU: Launching a Europe-Gulf Resilience Initiative After the US-Iran Deal
The Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the United States and Iran may have ended one of the most consequential Middle Eastern crises in decades, but it has not resolved the strategic problem it exposed. Whether the 60-day talks it set in motion will produce a final agreement remains far from certain.Yet the central lessons are already clear: Iran has preserved significant leverage, Washington has had to scale back its ambitions, and Europe and the Gulf face the prospect of protracted regional tension. Europe and the Gulf should therefore use the aftermath of the US-Iran deal to articulate their own “other MoU”: a Europe-Gulf Resilience initiative.
A Post-War Model for Verifying Iran’s Missile Arsenal
This study proposes a model for constraining and verifying Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal by employing a layered Strategic Verification Model with seven components: comprehensive baseline declarations; missile test and launch monitoring; intrusive inspections; quantitative and qualitative limits on missile capabilities; production controls, especially on solid-fuel manufacturing; a robust enforcement and compliance architecture; and regional confidence building measures.
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.
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.
Iran Says Might Release Evidence It Warned off U.S. Warship in Sea of Oman
A senior commander of the Iranian Navy reiterated that the country’s naval forces had warned an American military vessel to avoid approaching a drowning Ira
Rouhani Urged to Boost “Resistance Economy” to Counter New U.S. Sanctions
An article in Fars News Agency rejects President Hassan Rouhani’s recent claim that anti-Iran sanctions are irreversible and calls on the government to strengthen Iran’s “resistance economy” to counter new U.S. sanctions. Fars is affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.). The author argues that if Washington walks away from the nuclear agreement, the U.S. Treasury and Congress will re-impose all pre-deal sanctions – which will deter international companies and banks from doing business with Iran.
Iran Warns K.R.G.’s Independence Plan Could Thrust Iraq back into Chaos
As the Iraqi Kurdistan is set to hold an independence referendum on September 25, Iranian leaders and media outlets continue to warn against the consequences of such a move.
Iranian Leaders Call for Forming “Joint Islamic Army” to Defend Myanmar Muslims
The deputy head of the Iranian Parliament has called for the creation of a joint military forces by Muslim countries to stop violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
Senior Iraqi Shiite Leader Says Ties with Tehran Remain Strong
Ammar al-Hakim, a senior Iraqi Shiite politician and cleric, has rejected reports that relations between Tehran and Iraqi Shiite leaders have been souring lately.
I.R.G.C. Outlet: U.S. to Hand Over al-Tanf’s Control to Syrian Government
According to an agreement between the United States, Jordan, Russia and Syria, armed opposition groups will voluntarily leave eastern Damascus for Jordan, from where they will ultimately be transferred al-Hasakah Governorate in northeastern Syria, Fars News Agency reports. The Iranian outlet adds that two U.S.-backed rebel groups have reached an agreement in southeastern Damascus to surrender their weapons to the Syrian government in exchange for a safe passage to Jordan.
Iran-Backed Militia Group Threatens to Attack U.S. Troops in Iraq
A commander of Iranian-backed Iraqi militia group has warned that his forces will target American troops in Iraq if they do not leave the country after the battle against the Islamic State is over, the Iranian media reported. Jafar al-Hussaini, the spokesman for Kata’ib Hezbollah (Hezbollah Brigades), also accused the United States and the leadership of the Iraqi Kurdistan of assisting Islamic State militants to safely withdraw from Tal Afar, an Iraqi city west of Mosul recently liberated from the Islamic State.
Top Afghan Military Official: We Have Evidence Iran Provides Weapons to Taliban
The Chief of General Staff for the Afghanistan National Defense and Security Forces has said that the Kabul government has evidence that Iran is providing weapons and other military assets to the Taliban in western Afghanistan. In an interview with the BBC Persian, Lieutenant General Mohammad Sharif Yaftali added that President Ashraf Ghani discussed the issue with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani last month in Tehran but did not disclose details of the meeting.
Fars News: U.N. Envoy’s Remarks Show “Regime Changers” Lost in Syria
On Wednesday, U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura said the Syrian opposition must accept that it has not won the war against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. His comments, in the run-up to the next round of Syria talks in Kazakhstan, predictably drew positive reaction in Tehran and scorn by some rebel leaders. “The most significant part of the comments is not the proposal for peace talks, but the recognition that the ‘overthrow-Assad plan’ isn’t going to be won.
Reactions in Tehran to Nikki Haley’s Iran Nuclear Deal Remarks
On Wednesday, the U.S. representative to the United Nations signaled that the Trump administration may de-certify Iran’s compliance with the 2015 nuclear agreement next month. Speaking at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., Nikki Haley noted that such “de-certification” would not necessarily invalidate the nuclear deal, but suggested that it would be up to the Congress to decide whether the U.S. remains a party to the accord.
What will a Future Kurdish State Do with its Own Minorities?
The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (K.R.I.) is expected to hold a referendum on independence from Iraq on September 25. While the disputes between Kurds and Iraq’s Sunni and Shiite Arab populations will be a key factor in any independence process, the realities of building a Kurdish state in northern Iraq will be made more complex by the enormous ethnic and religious diversity in the region.
Regional Cooperation on Refugee Protection: The Unanswered Questions
With record numbers of people displaced around the world, the issue of how regions might cooperate to manage forced migration, and respond to the needs of people on the move, has become more relevant than ever. In the Asia-Pacific, the need for some form of cooperation became particularly pressing during the Andaman Sea “crisis” of May 2015. However, despite a series of multilateral meetings in the wake of that period, it is not clear whether any meaningful progress towards this goal eventuated. As States in the region continue to grapple with the need for better coordination in their responses to displacement, this essay raises some of the lesser explored and as yet unanswered questions about whether and how regional cooperation on refugee protection might develop in this part of the world.
Qatar to Top Agenda of Kuwaiti Emir’s Washington Visit | Weekly Briefing
In this week’s briefing, MEI experts Gerald Feierstein, Charles Schmitz, Jonathan M. Winer, and Yousef Munayyer provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Sabah’s upcoming visit to Washington, recent clashes in Yemen, the French Foreign Minister’s trip to Libya, and the U.N. Human Rights Council’s discussion on Israel/Palestine.
Iran Hails End of Siege on Syria’s Deir Ezzor as Victory for “Resistance”
Iranian leaders today congratulated the Syrian government on the lifting of a siege of the eastern city of Deir Ezzor by the Islamic State. Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif described the end of the three-year siege as a “significant victory” in the fight against terrorism.
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.
