ایران

With a few exceptions, the candidates focused more on debating the past than offering ideas and prescriptions for today's Middle East challenges.

There's no stopping Iranian ambitions if Moscow has Tehran's back, warns Ambassador James Jeffrey, unless the United States is prepared to "get real" about its Middle East engagement in the next presidential administration. The former American ambassador to Iraq and to Turkey, Jeffrey explains the importance of setting, and upholding

Moscow and Iran are already several steps ahead of Washington in shaping the war's potential endgame, so the next administration will need to be mindful of Putin's likeliest strategies and strongest levers if it wants a different outcome.

The massive, unregulated apparatus that the Supreme Leader has established to oversee Shiite activities during the Hajj is an essential tool in Tehran's efforts to export the Islamic Revolution and disseminate anti-Western sentiment.

In this in-depth interview, the veteran advisor and peace envoy discusses the regional consequences of the Iran nuclear deal and the possibility of progress in the Israeli-Palestinian arena.

Helping the Assad regime establish full control in Damascus is only one part of Iran's plan to create a regional Shiite crescent, and any ceasefire plan that furthers such goals could spark wider sectarian conflict.

The costly siege has spurred Iran to withdraw or relocate certain IRGC units, but this is unlikely to hurt the Assad coalition's strategy in Aleppo so long as Hezbollah and other Shiite militias remain willing to fight there.

As authorities scramble to prepare for the ways in which the Islamic State threat will continue to evolve, many lessons can be learned by looking at the factors that led to its rise. This seventh volume of Counterterrorism Lectures traces ISIL's evolution during 2015.

While Hezbollah's next war with Israel seems inevitable in the long term, recent events and rhetoric suggest that the group and its Iranian patron will focus on targeting Saudi interests in the meantime.