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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MEI Senior Fellow Brian Katulis engages friends, colleagues, and policy experts in casual conversations on the most important happenings in the Middle East.
Iran Confirms Ballistic Missile Test, Vows to Defy International Pressure
On February 1, the Iranian defense minister confirmed that the Islamic Republic had carried out a ballistic missile test and vowed to continue to enhance the country’s missile capabilities despite growing international concern.
On Iran’s 9th National Day of Space Technology, President Hassan Rouhani unveiled the country’s latest communications satellite. “Nahid 1” was unveiled with “Payam,” a remote sensing satellite, and “Saman 1,” an orbital transfer system as reported by Iranian media.
Iran Paper Warns Israel about Hezbollah’s Missile Power
Kayhan newspaper, arguably Iran’s most reactionary paper whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ran an extensive background of what it claimed to be Israeli fears about Lebanese Hezbollah’s missile arsenal. “Zionists [Israel] are deeply worried about Hezbollah’s missile strength,” the paper said.
While the Trump administration is said already to have put Iran “on notice” for its latest ballistic missile test, the Iranians began to sense a new push by the United States for more punitive actions against Tehran even while President Obama was still in the White House. For example, in her last speech to the United Nations as the U.S. ambassador to that body, Samantha Power called for more international efforts to stop Iranian military exports and specifically to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Institutionalized Violence In Muslim World Begets Global Islamist Militancy
The rise since mid-2014 of the Islamic State (ISIS) seems to have eclipsed other manifestations of global Islamist violence. ISIS’s notoriety is attributable to, among other things, its spectacular brutality, territorial gains, and apocalyptic ideology. Escaping the attention of many is the fact that ISIS taps into sentiments that have been fostered by extremist policies of many Muslim governments and leaders themselves as an outgrowth of decades of authoritarian rule following post-colonial upheavals in many Muslim societies.
Trump Admin to Shift Toward Saudi Position on Yemen War
If President Donald Trump’s pick of James Mattis as defense secretary is an indication of the direction of foreign policy in the Middle East, then the U.S. stance towards Yemen will likely align more closely with the approach of Gulf states in pursuing a military victory over the Houthi-Saleh alliance in Sanaa. The Obama administration had diverged, at least partly, from the Gulf position in Yemen by pushing the G.C.C. and the Hadi government toward a negotiated settlement.
Iran Warns U.S. and Allied Navies to Stay out of Its Waters in Gulf
Earlier today, the U.S. and four other allied naval forces started a three-day maritime exercise in international waters close to the Iranian coastline.
The Middle East Institute (MEI) will be relocating its offices from its historic brownstone townhouse on February 1, 2017 for an expected 2-year renovation as part of the Institute’s expansion campaign. The Institute’s temporary offices will be located around the corner of the same block, at 1319 18th St NW.
Despite Pressure, Rouhani Sticks to Foreign Investment Plan
President Hassan Rouhani has again come out to strongly argue that his government’s bid to attract maximum foreign investment is to “promote national interests.” “We are Muslim and revolutionary Iranians. We neither idolize nor fear outsiders and will use constructive interaction with the world to advance public and national interests,” Rouhani was quoted as saying by Iranian media.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has warned the Trump administration against “politicizing” Iran’s military activities. “We hope that the issue of Iran’s defense program… does not turn into a pretext for political games,” Press TV quoted Zarif as saying. Zarif, who spoke alongside visiting French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, was specifically responding to the latest reports that Iranian forces have test launched a new ballistic missile.
Iranian Kurdish Group Vows to Continue Fighting Islamic Republic
The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) will continue armed resistance against the Iranian regime, the group’s leader said in an exclusive interview with the BBC Persian published on January 30.
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.
