Category: Middle East
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A Renewed Iran Nuclear Deal is Not Good News to U.S. Allies in the Region
Last weekend, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attended a summit with Israel and four Arab countries at a resort in Israel’s Negev Desert. Until two years ago, a meeting between these parties would not have been feasible. In the fall of 2020, the Trump administration brokered the Abraham Accords, a deal during which four […]
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In a Search for Increased Oil Production, the United States Turns to its Gulf Allies
Three weeks into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the United States and its allies have imposed severe, economy-damaging sanctions on Russia. The West’s concern is that oil prices will continue to rise exponentially due to market disruptions. The United States and its European allies avoided targeting Russia’s energy supplies, yet the crushing sanctions threaten to […]
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Qatar is Back at the Center of International Politics…Again
Qatar yet again finds itself at the center of international politics. In September, this blog argued that the United States relied on Qatar, one of its closest Persian Gulf allies, to play an outsized diplomatic role, serving as a key interlocutor for the Americans in Afghanistan and with Iran. The United States is again reaching […]
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Counterterrorism Strike, Necessary for Biden’s Political Survival, Shows Islamic State on the Rise
For over a week, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has consumed much of the world, causing fear of the instigation of a potential war between Russia and the United States and its European allies. This invasion by Russia is yet another reminder that, while the United States ended its forever war in Afghanistan last August in […]
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Iran Nuclear Deal Talks Are at an Impasse
In the first round of negotiations since last parting in June, Iran and the other signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia and China – met in Vienna, Austria to resume talks in hopes of reviving the 2015 nuclear deal. Under a new regime led by […]
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Qatar: The Gulf’s New Interlocutor
In recent months, the United States has relied on one if its allies in the Persian Gulf to play an outsized diplomatic role. Qatar, the gas-rich country with approximately 300,000 citizens against whom its Gulf allies maintained a 43-month blockade, finds itself in an advantageous position. As an expert on Gulf politics observed, the small […]
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Between a Rock and a Hard Place
On July 26, Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi met with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House. During this meeting, the two leaders announced that the United States would formally end its combat mission in Iraq by the end of the year. Yet, not all 2,500 U.S. troops located in Iraq would return home […]
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The Royal Shakeup in Jordan
In early April, the Jordanian government accused King Abdullah II’s half-brother, Prince Hamzeh, of “destabilizing Jordan’s security.” That weekend, Jordan’s king charged Prince Hamzeh with attempting to stage a coup, supported by several members of his inner circle and foreign backing. The prince, not surprisingly, denied any involvement in the plot, though he did take […]
Allies and Adversaries 