Research & Commentary

Trump’s South Caucasus Peacemaking Is His Most Successful, but It Remains Unfinished

Of all the fronts in President Trump’s peacemaking agenda, the South Caucasus has delivered the most concrete results. The August 2025 Washington Declaration, signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan and witnessed by Trump, marked an important step toward peace in the region. The two sides initialed a peace agreement and advanced plans to unblock regional connectivity, including through the establishment of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), which would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhijevan exclave through southern Armenia. Implementation of TRIPP has since made notable progress, but construction has yet to start. A breakthrough on those two tracks would, in turn, unlock Armenia–Türkiye normalization, transforming a long-fractured region into an area of trade and interdependence.

The Iran War Was Always About Regime Change

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.

Iran’s New War Cabinet Is Really an Old One

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.

Additional Research & Commentary

Analysis Commentary Backgrounders Videos Podcasts Policy Memos

Backgrounders

All Backgrounders

Israeli Settlements in the West Bank

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

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

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.

Turkish Foreign Policy

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.

View show

Taking the Edge Off 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.

View show

Rethinking Democracy

MEI Senior Fellow Gonul Tol hosts leading scholars and thought leaders on global democracy trends and the state of the liberal international order.

View show

Sort by

Newest First

Tangle in the Caucasus

This piece was originally published by ForeignAffairs.com on January 15, 2013

Assertions and opinions in this publication are solely those of the above-mentioned author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Middle East Institute, which expressly does not take positions on Middle East policy.

Interview with Thai Ambassador to Jordan – HE Piriya Khempon

Thailand values Jordan as a modern and progressive country and as an example for other countries in the Arab world.

China’s Relations with the Middle East: A Bibliography, 1950-2012

This bibliography covers all aspects of modern China-Middle East ties—politics, energy, trade, investment, and the rare discussion of cultural exchange. Materials are divided into two categories, contemporary (2001-present) and historical.

War with Iran in 2013?

This piece was originally published by Reuters on January 3, 2013 under the title Will This Be the Year That Israel Goes to War with Iran?

Israel did not bomb Iran last year. Why should it happen this year?

The Regional Implications of the Syria Crisis

The Middle East Institute is proud to present a paper based on a series of discussions with Middle East analysts sponsored by the Hollings Center for International Dialogue held in Istanbul and Washington about the regional implications of the Syria Crisis.

Could South Korea “Save” America’s Relations with Pakistan?

This piece was originally published by The Diplomat on December 21, 2012

What Pakistan Seeks in Afghanistan

This piece was originally published by Foreign Policy Blogs on December 20, 2012

Migration Agreements between Italy and North Africa: Domestic Imperatives versus International Norms

The upheavals which spread across North Africa in 2011 changed the political map of the region. With the downfall of longstanding rulers, the European Union has sought to re-launch a policy dialogue informed by an awareness of human rights issues and to support the process of democratic transition in its Mediterranean neighbors.

The Syrian Opposition Will Benefit from Integrating Its Civilian-Military Chain of Command

Interview with Naofumi Hashimoto

Most Asian countries are success stories today. To varying degrees, they have emerged from the colonial experience and/or from destructive wars as far stronger and much more inclusive economically, socially, and politically. I suspect that many Arabs gravitate to Asia partly because they represent both the achievements and the possibilities of modernization.

Responses to Solving the Western Sahara — What Now Remains

Responses to: Solving the Western Sahara — What Now Remains

The “Turkish Model” in the Middle East

This article was originally published in the December, 2012 issue of Current History

Washington’s Next Steps On Syria

This article was first published by Reuters on December 12, 2012

Whither Mohammed Morsi and His Muslim Brotherhood?

This article was first published by The Huffington Post on December 10, 2012

China and the Middle East Program

Countries

Countries

Countries

Countries

Trump’s South Caucasus Peacemaking Is His Most Successful, but It Remains Unfinished

The Iran War Was Always About Regime Change

Iran’s New War Cabinet Is Really an Old One

Additional Research & Commentary