Reflections on a Diplomatic Career in the Middle East: A Conversation With Ambassador Yael Lempert
Brian is joined by Amb. (ret.) Yael Lempert, Vice President for Outreach at MEI, to discuss her career in diplomacy and the importance of US diplomatic efforts abroad. She shares stories from postings across the Middle East in Baghdad, Cairo, Tripoli, Jerusalem, and Amman and examines how her personal and professional experiences shaped her approach to the work. Together, Brian and Yael discuss the realities of life in the Foreign Service, the core tenets of American diplomacy, and why it matters in today’s Middle East.
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.
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.
Biden v. Putin: Rival roadshows in an increasingly assertive Middle East
The U.S. and Russian presidents staged high visibility visits to the Middle East in the past week and a half. The visits were designed to assert each great power’s influence in the region at a time of escalating great power conflict. But both presidents cut a diminished figure on the regional stage at a time when leaders in Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia are feeling increasingly empowered.
As Biden and Mideast leaders meet in Jeddah, human security should be urgently on the agenda
As President Joe Biden and several Gulf and Middle East leaders meet in Jeddah, they will be discussing global energy markets, regional security, countering Iran, and building on the Abraham Accords. But in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as the Russian war on Ukraine reverberates, half of the countries in the region, and tens of millions of people, are facing desperately worsening socio-economic conditions. If the summit seeks to work toward a more stable Middle East, the U.S. and Gulf leaders should agree on a sustained effort to use part of the region’s windfall from high energy prices to support vulnerable states and societies that are at risk of serious unraveling and instability.
Amb. Gerald Feierstein, Bilal Saab, and Karen Young join guest host Brian Katulis to discuss their recent MEI policy paper, US-Gulf Relations at the Crossroads: Time for a Recalibration, and why they believe now is not the time to disengage from the region.
Monday Briefing: The Biden administration’s important opportunity to put “diplomacy first” in the Middle East
Read MEI’s weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.
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