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.
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.
I.R.G.C. Test-Fires Naval Ballistic Missile amid Heightening Tension with U.S.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) has “successfully” test-fired a naval missile destroying a floating target more than 100 miles away, the Iranian media reported earlier today.
Qatar is throwing its financial muscle to woo Russia in a bid to regain lost political influence in the Syrian conflict, and the broader Middle East. Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani visited Russia in January to address Middle Eastern geopolitics and energy issues.
Rights Groups Call on Tehran to End Repression of Justice-Seekers of 1980s Mass Executions
Twenty human rights organizations issued a joint statement today calling on the Iranian authorities to “stop the harassment, intimidation and prosecution of human rights defenders seeking truth and justice on behalf of individuals who were summarily executed or forcibly disappeared during the 1980s and their families,” the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), one of the signatories of the statement
Egypt, Hamas Continue Flirtation, but to What End?
Egypt and Hamas continue to explore potential cooperation against a common threat in the Islamic State in the Sinai, as well as on the domestic Palestinian scene. Egypt’s Public Intelligence Chief, Khaled Fawzy, hosted the Vice President of Hamas’s political bureau, Ismail Haniya, and his associates Rawhi Mushtaha and Moussa Abu Marzouk for several days of consultations in late January.
This essay, which launches the MAP series on India’s relations with the Middle East (West Asia), delineates the extraordinary transformation of India’s deeply fraught relations with the region into, arguably, India’s most satisfying set of external relationships.
Tehran Worried King Salman’s Asia Tour Aimed at Isolating Iran
The Iranian media speculates that Saudi Arabia’s King Salman’s month-long tour of Asia-Pacific region is aimed at expanding Riyadh’s “anti-Iran” coalition to pressure and isolate Tehran.
Pakistani Shiite Militias Fighting in Syria Say Quds Force Keep Their Passports
Iran’s Qom News reported on Friday that Sayed Abbas Mousavi, a commander of the Zainabyoun Brigade, was kidnapped in the Iranian holy city of Qom (the site has now deleted the report).
I.R.G.C. Agents Detain Iranian Christian Converts without Charge or Trial
Plainclothes agents of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) have arrested two Christian converts and transferred them to an unknown location, Mohabat News reported. The Iranian outlet, which reports on the situation of Iran’s Christian minority, added that I.R.G.C.
Monday Briefing: Netanyahu to Moscow, Jubeir to Cairo, and the Road Ahead for Geneva 4
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Eran Etzion, Gerald Feierstein, and Robert S. Ford provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including Israeli PM Netanyahu’s upcoming trip to Moscow, Saudi FM Adel al-Jubeir’s upcoming visit to Cairo, and the developing agenda for the Geneva 4 Syria peace talks.
Iran Harasses U.S. Navy, Launches More Ballistic Missiles Defying Washington's Warnings
Iran test-fired two ballistic missiles and sent fast-attack boats close to a U.S. Navy ship in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, U.S. officials confirmed to Fox News today. The officials added that one of Iran’s ballistic missile tests was successful and it destroyed a target more than 150 miles away. According to the report, the launches of the Fateh-110 short-range ballistic missiles were the first tests of the missile in two years.
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.
