Trump’s Family Business Deals Risk Further Undermining the Credibility of US Middle East Policy
President Trump’s family businesses are once again in the spotlight as a new financial disclosure showed they earned $2 billion in income in 2025 — a dramatic increase on the year before, with much of it coming from Gulf entities, raising emoluments concerns. Mounting perceptions of corruption, combined with unresolved crises in Iran and Israel-Palestine, are eroding trust among key partners in the Middle East. With the 2026 midterms approaching, these entanglements could represent a major political vulnerability and further undermine America’s already-strained standing in the region.
After the US-Israel-Iran war — and the strikes that followed the cease-fire — the Gulf states find themselves dangerously exposed. Host Alistair Taylor is joined by MEI Associate Fellow Gregory Gause to discuss the war’s impact on the Gulf, their partnership with the United States, and whether the turmoil of recent months will push Gulf leaders to reassess their alliances and international engagement.
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.
Religious & Secular Elite Cooperation: Democratization in Turkey & the Middle East
Fri, 11/9/2012 12:30 pm to 2:00 pmThe Middle East Institute’s Center for Turkish Studies and the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University are proud to present a discussion with Professor Murat Somer of Koc University in Istanbul. Somer will examine how countries with semi-democratic or authoritarian centers, such as Turkey or the Arab Spring polities, must rely on cooperation between religious and secular actors to achieve greater democratization.
Religious & Secular Elite Cooperation: Democratization in Turkey & the Middle East
Fri, 11/9/2012 12:30 pm to 2:00 pmThe Middle East Institute’s Center for Turkish Studies and the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University are proud to present a discussion with Professor Murat Somer of Koc University in Istanbul. Somer will examine how countries with semi-democratic or authoritarian centers, such as Turkey or the Arab Spring polities, must rely on cooperation between religious and secular actors to achieve greater democratization.
Religious & Secular Elite Cooperation: Democratization in Turkey & the Middle East
Fri, 11/9/2012 12:30 pm to 2:00 pmThe Middle East Institute’s Center for Turkish Studies and the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University are proud to present a discussion with Professor Murat Somer of Koc University in Istanbul. Somer will examine how countries with semi-democratic or authoritarian centers, such as Turkey or the Arab Spring polities, must rely on cooperation between religious and secular actors to achieve greater democratization.
Religious & Secular Elite Cooperation: Democratization in Turkey & the Middle East
Fri, 11/9/2012 12:30 pm to 2:00 pmThe Middle East Institute’s Center for Turkish Studies and the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University are proud to present a discussion with Professor Murat Somer of Koc University in Istanbul. Somer will examine how countries with semi-democratic or authoritarian centers, such as Turkey or the Arab Spring polities, must rely on cooperation between religious and secular actors to achieve greater democratization.
The terse announcement on Monday that Prince Muhammad bin Nayef has been promoted to minister of interior in Saudi Arabia accelerates the long-awaited rise of a new generation of leaders to positions of real power in the Kingdom. At the age of 58, Muhammad succeeds his 72-year-old uncle, Prince Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz, a son of the founding king of modern Saudi Arabia, who had become minister only in June.
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.
