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April Longley Alley: 3 Things I'm Watching on the Red Sea, the Houthis, and Iran

Senior Fellow April Longley Alley shares three things she's watching in Yemen and the Red Sea region: The Houthis' next moves; Yemen's front lines, and Iran war fallout.

How the Looming Houthi Threat Could Turn the Iran War

Whether the U.S. truce with Iran breaks down or winds up rewarding the regime, the previously restrained Houthis may take it as a signal to resume their own aggression.

Jun 9, 2026

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April Longley Alley

Screen grab showing an Iranian warehouse where Shahed-136 drone airframes are being assembled.

Changing Iran’s Coercive Calculus Requires More Than Massing U.S. Forces

Regardless of where the current round of escalation goes, Tehran will continue using ceasefires, front-loaded sanctions waivers, and tit-for-tat attack cycles as opportunities to reconstitute its forces until Washington imposes hard, verifiable limits on its fastest-recovering asymmetric capabilities.

Jul 24, 2026

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Farzin Nadimi

Ships gather in waters off the Iranian island of Bandar Abbas along the Strait of Hormuz - source: Reuters

How to Isolate Tehran

To reopen the Strait of Hormuz after the latest dip in the Iran roller coaster, the Trump administration will need to marry renewed blockade efforts with a more collective-minded diplomatic approach.

Jul 17, 2026

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Dennis Ross

Yemen’s Truce at Risk

High-profile funeral events in Iran provided an opportunity for the Houthis to pressure Saudi Arabia, and for Tehran to demonstrate support to its partner and signal it has cards to play at another maritime chokepoint.

Jul 16, 2026

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April Longley Alley

Secretary of State Marco Rubio presides as Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States sign an agreement in Washington - source: Reuters

Operationalizing the Trilateral Framework Agreement

The framework's success will largely depend on the creation of a U.S.-led, third-party verification system to avoid the shortcomings experienced with previous agreements, bolstered by effective intelligence support and international financing.

Jul 15, 2026

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Matthew Levitt

Background on the U.S.-Saudi Nuclear Agreement

Saudi Arabia’s Nuclear “Asks”: What Do They Want, What Might They Get?

Simon Henderson and David Schenker examine the conflicting legal, diplomatic, and proliferation concerns Washington must navigate when negotiating with Riyadh.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif embrace each other on the day they sign a defence agreement, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, September 17, 2025 - source: Reuters

Will Saudi Arabia’s New Defense Agreement with Pakistan Have Proliferation Cons…

The Pakistani-Saudi defense agreement of 2025 was mostly symbolic, but the implications may nevertheless be significant for regional proliferation concerns, nuclear energy ambitions, and related U.S. diplomacy.

Regional Nuclear Plans in the Aftermath of an Iran Deal

In 2014, Simon Henderson and Olli Heinonen warned that an inadequate nuclear deal with Iran may increase the odds of regional proliferation.

Interactive Map: Maritime Attacks in the MENA Region

Explore this new interactive tool to shed light on the actions of actors such as Iran and Yemen's Houthis that have threatened and attacked commercial shipping in the waters off the Middle East and North Africa.

Access the map.

Institute Expertise on the Iran War

Holly Dagres

A widely cited scholar, Institute Libitzky Family Senior Fellow Holly Dagres has published groundbreaking scholarship on social media use by young Iranians. Curator of The Iranist Substack newsletter, she has been featured in interviews across radio, television, and print, including the Associated Press, BBC News, CNN, NPR, Fox News, and The New York Times.

Noam Raydan

Noam Raydan, The Washington Institute's William Sudhaus Senior Fellow, studies topics related to energy and maritime risk in the Middle East. She is a co-creator of the Institute's interactive map of maritime attacks in the Middle East since 2017.

Dennis Ross

Ambassador Dennis Ross, the Institute's Counselor and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow, played a leading role shaping U.S. Middle East policy in the George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and Obama administrations.

Dana Stroul

Formerly the top civilian official responsible for the Middle East at the Pentagon under President Biden, Dana Stroul is Director of Research and Michael Kassen Senior Fellow at the Institute.

Subscribe to receive the latest Washington Institute policy analysis in your email inbox.

Interactive Maps

Screen shot of the Maritime Attacks in the MENA Region interactive map

Maritime Attacks in the MENA Region (Since 2017)

Shed light on the actions of actors such as Iran and Yemen's Houthis that have threatened and attacked commercial shipping in the waters off the Middle East and North Africa.

Screenshot of the Hezbollah External Operations Interactive Map

Lebanese Hezbollah Select Worldwide Activity

Access this interactive map to explore an open-source database of Hezbollah global operations and break through the terrorist organization's "Golden Rule" of secrecy.

Screenshot of the Islamic State Worldwide Activity interactive map

The Islamic State Select Worldwide Activity

Explore the most comprehensive public archive of Islamic State attack data, media output, government designations, and legal cases to understand the organization’s global reach,

Screenshot of the Iran External Operations interactive map

Iran External Operations 1979-present

Access this powerful interactive tool, which maps over forty-five years of Iranian clandestine operations around the globe.

Video: America and the Middle East at 250 with Dr. Martin Kramer

Historian Martin Kramer, the Walter P. Stern Fellow at The Washington Institute, explains how America's early leaders navigated the republic's first encounters with the Middle East—and hears some echoes of today's policy dilemmas.

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A satellite map with political borders overlaid shows Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan - source: Reuters

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After War, a Crackdown in Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan Province

Recent crackdowns against Iran's Baloch minority over tensions around mining in the province suggest that the rift between the regime and many Baloch is deepening in the post-war period.

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Changing Iran’s Coercive Calculus Requires More Than Massing U.S. Forces

Jul 24, 2026

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How to Isolate Tehran

To reopen the Strait of Hormuz after the latest dip in the Iran roller coaster, the Trump administration will need to marry renewed blockade efforts with a more collective-minded diplomatic approach.

Jul 17, 2026

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Yemen’s Truce at Risk

High-profile funeral events in Iran provided an opportunity for the Houthis to pressure Saudi Arabia, and for Tehran to demonstrate

Jul 16, 2026

Montage: Presidents Sisi (Egypt) and Putin (Russia) at the 2024 BRICS summit; a woman holds a Russian flag in Istanbul; a Russia House cultural center in Syria; a map image superimposing Russian flag over Africa/Middle East.

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Former senior U.S. defense officials join a Russia expert to discuss how the Iran crisis is shaping Moscow’s military, political

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