Policy Analysis

Activists and experts discuss what Washington can do to curb Tehran’s violent campaigns against Kurdish populations at home and next door in Iraq.

Although not much can be done about disarming Hezbollah at the moment, any serious Western policy will need to focus on sanctioning the group’s domestic political enablers while engaging and protecting its Shia opponents.

Various historical and recent factors suggest that the nuclear dimension of Gulf politics is again in flux amid a deepening world energy crisis.

In the absence of strong international support, Tunisians have been left to face the worsening political and economic crises on their own

Regional governments will continue to balance between Beijing and Washington, so policymakers should focus on tipping the scale in America’s favor, countering the narrative of U.S. withdrawal, and avoiding unnecessary escalation with China.

Decentralizing power would have been the best way of avoiding a return to Saddam-era authoritarianism and corruption, but Baghdad has favored centralization instead—while simultaneously fissuring the state through sectarian patronage and competition.

Several countries have rapidly imposed new sanctions in response to the regime’s repression of peaceful protests, but they should do more to harmonize and expand these actions.

Turkey's refusal to approve Sweden's NATO membership is yet another foreign policy tool being used by Erdoğan ahead of 2023 elections.

The regime still has additional means of making the crackdown even more lethal, and parts of the country are potentially primed to take up arms in response, with uncertain consequences on the ground.

Because many states are eschewing both alignment with a single great power and nonalignment, the best U.S. response to this “omni-alignment” is creating more tailored opportunities for high-value cooperation with Washington.

Russia's use of Iranian drones in Ukraine foreshadows potentially dangerous developments for U.S. forces and their allies in the Middle East.

The West hasn’t shown signs of abandoning Ukraine in the near term, but it also hasn’t set a clear goal of permanently changing Moscow’s strategic calculus, which remains fixed on winning the long game.

China is already one of the kingdom’s major commercial partners and a significant supplier of military and nuclear technology, but Riyadh wants more of each.

Sandwiched between meetings with a Taliban leader and Israel’s president, the Doha trip reflects the scope and versatility of Emirati diplomacy.

Socioeconomic unrest is growing in many parts of the country, and the series of elections planned this month and next year hold little prospect of bolstering public confidence in an increasingly autocratic government.

In an attempt to rally Iranians around the flag, his latest speech fixated on “Western plots,” indicating that he has no imminent plans to make significant concessions to protesters.

Iran's loss at the World Cup coincides with controversy and tensions both back home and around the globe.

Four experts assess Hezbollah's impact at home and abroad after decades of political maneuvering, military operations, and criminal activity.

Although Palestinian and Kurdish politics have similarly deteriorated into ineffective blame games, fresh U.S. policies focused on institution-building could restore the promise of progress in both cases.

Militia leaders have stated that his authority will be limited to technocratic and bureaucratic matters, while they will dictate the country's strategic direction and security decisions—including the future U.S. presence in Iraq.