إيران

Despite U.S. efforts to forge a multinational coalition aimed at curbing the Iranian nuclear program, questions have arisen about the effectiveness of this approach. For example, has Iran converted discussions on the issue into a stalling tactic while it continues to make progress in its nuclear program? Can any international

Yesterday, President George W. Bush announced that he was nominating former CIA director Robert Gates as secretary of defense following the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld. Gates, currently the president of Texas A&M University, served as director of central intelligence from 1991 to 1993. In all, he spent twenty-seven years as

On September 28, 2006, Washington Institute senior fellow Christopher Hamilton testified before the House Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation. Mr. Hamilton directs The Washington Institute's Terrorism Studies Program. The prepared text of his remarks follows. Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: I have been

Faltering diplomacy to suspend Iran's nuclear program -- highlighted by French president Jacques Chirac's September 18, 2006, call to temporarily suspend the threat of United Nations sanctions on Iran -- has revived speculation that the United States might undertake preventive action to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions. U.S. policymakers considering prevention

Iraqi Shiite cleric Ali Hussein al-Sistani has achieved tremendous popularity in recent years, becoming the greatest marja, or independent religious authority, in the Shiite world. But how does his influence compare to that of Iran's Supreme Leader, who can draw upon the considerable resources of the Iranian state? In this

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is a man who likes flags. At the start of the war, he appeared on his organization’s al-Manar television station with a Hezbollah flag behind him. Then that was replaced by a Lebanese flag. Lately, he has placed both flags at his side. There’s been one

In the Greater Middle East, the United States is currently engaged in three wars: in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and against al-Qaeda and its affiliate organizations. As serious as those conflicts are, they do not constitute the sum of challenges facing America in the region. Indeed, two additional challenges -- from

The critical question of whether or not the current conflict in Lebanon will escalate to a broader regional war is being answered in two overly simple ways. One such analysis is that this is a “meltdown” with escalating violence and mounting pressures for further escalation. A second, equally simplistic view

The current crisis in Lebanon has galvanized world attention because it is generally understood that this is not a local conflict, but rather one that represents Iran’s bid to raise the stakes in the Middle East. The fact that several countries are planning to convene next week in Rome to