ایران

The new administration can succeed in the region if it understands the nature of the threats posed by Iran and radical Islamists, is prepared to work with America’s traditional partners, and appreciates how to take advantage of the latest local developments.

The president's latest decision could encourage Sudan's ongoing shift toward more favorable policies in the Middle East, and without surrendering the incoming administration's leverage.

While Iran's air defenses are a central element of its deterrent capabilities, newly arrived long-range mobile systems like the S-300 could also enable it to constrain the air forces of its neighbors over their own sovereign territory, thereby enhancing Tehran's ability to intimidate and coerce these neighbors.

Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, the United States administration divided the world conceptually into good and evil blocs, with most of the evil blocs located in the Middle East. Pushing al-Qaeda out, toppling the Taliban in Afghanistan, and overthrowing the Ba’ath regime in Iraq further inspired the White House

Iran and Russia may find a way to push past their strategic differences and make the ceasefire work, but it will be much more difficult to forge agreements on Syria's other intractable issues at the upcoming peace conference.

The Washington Institute's Anna Borshchevskaya and Cipher Brief's Leone Lakhani review Moscow's 2016 track record on the Syria war, Iran, and other Middle East-related issues.

The heavy presence of pro-Iranian and pro-Syrian ministers is troubling, but Hariri and his allies can still preserve Lebanon's sovereignty by pushing for a balanced electoral law and a timely parliamentary ballot.

If Iranian leaders want to advance a world governed by the relative justice of international law, which however imperfect is better than a world in which "the strong do what they will and the weak suffer what they must", they will have to cede the same implicit claims of exceptionalism that they loathe the U.S. and Israel for.

Tensions between the White House and the intelligence community are nothing new, but enough damage has already been done to elevate this problem to the Trump administration's A-list.