Policy Analysis

The group showed an unusual and potentially concerning interest in the 2020 U.S. election and may be preparing new attacks as the new administration takes office.

The former Prime Minister discusses the challenges and opportunities facing the Biden administration twenty years after 9/11 and a decade after the Arab Spring.

The Biden administration should embrace the new sanctions against the civilian head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, a decision that is supported by strong evidence of human rights abuses and can help hold other violators accountable.

The homeland has increasingly been a haven for far-right extremism during the president’s tenure, frustrating America’s allies and encouraging its enemies.

Sisi may need to respond to U.S. pressure over human rights issues, but he knows that Biden will not willingly damage relations with Egypt.

Although the Supreme Leader left room for Biden to return to the nuclear deal and dialed down the vengeful rhetoric, his main message was that Iran cannot trust Washington when it comes to economic matters, security issues, or even coronavirus vaccines.

Although Moscow and Ankara are pursuing different aims in Syria, Libya, and the South Caucasus, they have managed to avoid direct confrontation.

Despite media reports of division, a walk in Cairo reveals how Egypt's history of interfaith coexistence is still alive.

The administration's achievements were counterbalanced by a striking lack of alignment among three U.S. national security strategies and the discouraging rapid rise of far-right extremism at home.

Libya, Iraq, and the Strait of Hormuz provide three test cases where greater assertiveness and transatlantic cooperation could go hand in hand, but only if European countries receive genuine U.S. support to step up their operational efforts and diplomatic engagement.

The recent rapproachement between Morocco and Israel can be partly understood through Morocco’s long history of relations with its Jewish minority.

The rift’s closure, while quite welcome, won’t produce instant Gulf unity or make the Iran nuclear issue any easier to solve.

Three veteran policy practitioners examine the challenges that the Biden administration will face as it considers whether and how to reenter the Iran nuclear agreement.

A reimagined approach to Iran nuclear talks could extend the country’s breakout time, preserve U.S. negotiating leverage, and strengthen American alliances in Europe and across the Middle East.

While recent polling reveals that the Qatari public has been supportive of compromises to ease the Arab Quartet’s blockade, real differences in public opinion on foreign policy issues remain between the countries.

One of the most reliable strategic allies in the region has been taken for granted, so the Biden administration will need to steer more diplomatic attention and economic support Amman’s way.

Tehran and its proxies may wait until after inauguration to take any action, potentially leaving Biden to decide how to balance the safety of American personnel with the chance for reengagement.

One of the fruits of Arab-Israeli normalization should be more robust U.S.-led missile defense collaboration between states that face the greatest threat from Iran.

Unusual deployments by the U.S. and Israeli navies may be intended to deter Iranian attacks in the Gulf, but both moves are ripe for misinterpretation in Tehran.

The topic of human rights has become a red line for Saudi leaders, who seem to perceive it as a purely domestic matter on which they will not countenance any foreign pressure.