Gulf & Energy Policy

As nuclear negotiations between Iran and the international community enter a more dangerous and uncertain phase, further tensions and confrontations are likely on an often-overlooked front: the vital shipping lanes of the Persian Gulf. Given its natural geographic advantages and deliberate military development, the Islamic Republic effectively holds the Strait

This weekend, Saudi Arabia will attempt to counter accusations that it has not done enough to stop rising oil prices by hosting an international energy summit of government and oil-company officials. Invitations were sent after the kingdom -- the world's top oil exporter, home to nearly a quarter of known

"If the Americans make a wrong move toward Iran, the shipment of energy will definitely face danger." -- Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, June 4, 2006 Every day, nearly 40 percent of the world's internationally traded oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz -- a narrow channel over which Iran

President Bush returns to the Middle East this week for the second time in 2008. Initially planned to mark Israel's sixtieth anniversary, his itinerary has expanded to include meetings with top officials from Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, and Saudi Arabia. Except for a trip to Riyadh

On March 16, Vice President Cheney departs on a Middle East trip that will take him to Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank, and Turkey. Coming less than two months after President Bush's trip to the region, the vice president's itinerary is intriguing. His undisclosed agenda with "key partners,"

The confrontation this month in the Persian Gulf between Navy warships and small boats of Iran's Revolutionary Guard may have come as a surprise to the public at large, but not to me. I witnessed a very similar event five years ago during the invasion of Iraq. It was April

On December 17, a donor conference will convene in Paris with the goal of bolstering Palestinian governance in the West Bank -- the first such meeting since the 2006 Stockholm conference. Current Middle East envoy Tony Blair has expressed optimism that the international community will support President Mahmoud Abbas and

In spring 2007, a Gulf diplomat visiting Washington was asked how states such as Kuwait seem to remain insulated from regional crises in Iraq, Iran, and elsewhere. His response was unexpectedly poetic: "Think of a swan gliding across a pond. It all seems so serene -- but right below the

Tomorrow, around 400,000 Omani men and women are expected to vote in elections for eighty-five seats on the nation's Majlis al-Shura, or Consultative Council. Among the conservative Arab states of the Persian Gulf region, Oman -- a key U.S. ally and exporter of oil and gas, strategically positioned opposite Iran