All Policy Analysis by Matthew Levitt

Even as the war proceeds, much more must be done to identify how Tehran and its terrorist partners are adapting their procurement and fundraising networks to evolving conditions in the Middle East.

Iran’s fractured opposition and years of repression make rapid regime change unlikely.

Washington Institute fellows assess how Hezbollah, the Houthis, Iraq’s Hashd, and other Iranian proxies and allies are responding to the war, as well as how the Trump administration and partner governments might counter the risk of terrorist attacks given Tehran’s long track record of foreign plots.

To gauge the true effectiveness of the LAF's disarmament effort, one must go beyond the number of patrols, raids, and seized weapons and take a hard look at what it has done—and not done—to search private property, target underground facilities, stop cross-border smuggling from Syria, and transparently dispose of armaments.

With revised U.S. and UN strategy documents in the works, the Trump administration needs to reaffirm America's role in shaping the counterterrorism agenda—and multilateral organizations are indispensable to this effort.

Some European governments have been aggressive in prosecuting the group’s continental financiers, but not aggressive enough, while others have yet to take any substantive action.

Instead of pinning a terrorist designation on the entire group, the Trump administration should focus more narrowly on the national security threats presented by individual Brotherhood branches and organizations, especially those funding Hamas.

Undermining the group in Lebanon requires targeting its networks abroad.

The director of the Institute’s counterterrorism program testifies on how the group’s postwar funding crunch will likely spur it to double down on raising money via its extensive criminal networks in the West.

Perhaps, given the ceasefire deal, the group will rein in its operations abroad to avoid giving Israel reason to resume the war, but the involvement of senior group leaders in plots targeting Denmark, Sweden, and other countries has justifiably drawn law enforcement attention.

More than three decades ago, amid the prospect of Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territory, international actors similarly sought to disarm the group and exclude it from governance.

An in-depth report on the corrosive role that Russian and Hezbollah elements are playing in Mali, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, and other West African states.

Tehran’s recruitment of Israelis for military surveillance, sabotage, assassination plots, and other operations is on the rise, showing how the shadow war between the two adversaries continues to evolve even after their recent hot war.

Given their long history of terrorist plots in the West, Iranian agents and proxies could pursue multiple options for hitting back at America after the June war.

The Iranian and Russian regimes have used a wide mix of tactics and operatives to strike at dissidents and other targets in the West, and thwarting them will require more intensive efforts on multiple fronts.

Israeli and American intelligence reached different conclusions while looking at the same information, so understanding what Jerusalem and Tehran were thinking before the war is crucial to forecasting what could come next.

What does it mean for Damascus, for Washington, and for U.S. partners and allies now that the Trump administration has dismissed fifty years worth of economic sanctions against Syria?

Just as with the Hezbollah missile threat in Lebanon, completely eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat is not the best yardstick for Israel’s current campaign.

A compilation of analyses on the military and nuclear impact of Israel’s initial strikes, Tehran’s response options, the Trump administration’s next steps, public reactions inside Iran, and more.

Four experts discuss what the Trump administration needs to do to follow through on the landmark talks with President Sharaa, from sorting through the complex web of sanctions to managing allied expectations and safely handing over the counter-IS mission.