Policy Analysis

Tehran and its proxies have been doing everything they can to destabilize Jordan during the Gaza war, from inciting protests and increasing drug and weapons smuggling to escalating armed threats from Iraq.

President Raisi’s fatal crash put a spotlight on the dire state of aviation safety in Iran, but the regime’s gross mismanagement and corrupt profiteering are to blame, not foreign sanctions.

Few of the prospective candidates have shown much interest in or talent for national security affairs, and none has articulated a vision for tamping down Iran’s aggression at home or abroad.

A regularly updated visual tracker of northern border attacks by Hezbollah, the IDF, and Palestinian groups during the Hamas-Israel war.

A ceremony held by Khamenei's office gave some clues about the pecking order of the Iraqi "resistance," with political players at the forefront and militia fighters and propagandists in the second tier.

As laid out in President Biden’s speech, the initial terms of the proposed deal include a disturbing imbalance in who guarantees that Hamas and Israel fulfill their commitments under the agreement—a problem that should be fixed now rather than later.

The U.S. ambassador to Yemen joins an expert conflict practitioner to discuss Washington’s policy options for resolving the civil war.

Links to Israel-linked companies, especially in light of the Rafah invasion, are again the culprit.

If implemented in full, Israel’s latest tax, banking, and victim-compensation measures could bring the West Bank’s two decades of relative stability crashing down—along with any plans to have the PA play a postwar role in Gaza.

The vigilante group appears to have targeted American-branded businesses in Baghdad while taking pains not to claim the attacks, which embarrassed the Iraqi government.

By recognizing the limits of electoral processes in countries like Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia, Washington can focus more on addressing economic, social, and institutional challenges, managing regional dynamics, and engaging strategically with global competitors.

Attendees will likely focus on the Gaza crisis and trumpet new cooperation agreements, but these CASCF meetings are more notable for what they reveal about the limits of Chinese influence in the Middle East.

Washington can demonstrate its decisive edge in areas like climate change remediation and economic development, while highlighting the many dangers posed by partnership with Russia and China.

From water rights to PKK violence, a recent summit seemed to remove several long-festering thorns from the bilateral relationship, creating potential challenges and benefits alike for U.S. interests in Iraq and beyond.

Their longstanding peace treaty may be safe, but the growing tensions threaten to unwind years of progress and distract Egypt from its most important goal—securing a ceasefire with Hamas.

Iraqi militias were nowhere to be seen at the Tehran conference, but an IRGC outlet described the PMF as appearing alongside Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and other U.S.-designated terrorist groups.

The adjusted numbers reflect the many challenges of counting deaths in a chaotic urban conflict.

Hamas leaders have recently tempered their fiery rhetoric with more moderate-sounding statements about a ceasefire along the 1967 lines, but this is merely a tactical move designed to advance the group’s main goal—establishing an Islamist state “between the river and the sea.”

As in past elections, the contest to determine a replacement for the late President Raisi will be less about the people’s choice and more about what direction the Supreme Leader wants the Islamic Republic to go.

From aligning weapons acquisition strategies and improving intelligence sharing to getting the diplomatic framing right, U.S. officials can do more to advance regional air defense and maritime security through this week’s working groups and beyond.