Through our Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East and Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative, the Atlantic Council works with allies and partners in Europe and the wider Middle East to protect US interests, build peace and security, and unlock the human potential of the region.

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Meet our blogs

MENASource

MENASource follows movements across the region and provides news and analysis on current events, including a platform for Middle Eastern perspectives, among others, on major issues—economic, political, security, cultural—that are at stake in the post-Arab Spring era.  

IranSource

IranSource provides a holistic look at Iran’s internal dynamics, global and regional policies, and posture through unique analysis of current events and long-term, strategic issues related to Iran.

All commentary & analysis

New Atlanticist

May 6, 2025

Experts react: India just launched airstrikes against Pakistan. What’s next? 

By Atlantic Council experts

Atlantic Council experts share insights on India’s missile strikes on Pakistan, which came two weeks after a terrorist attack targeting Indians in Pahalgam.

Conflict
Extremism

MENASource

May 6, 2025

A blueprint for a trilateral Morocco-Israel-US investment fund

By Aïssa Christophe Agostini

Amid instability in the Mediterranean, North Africa and the Sahel, a chance to deliver on the promise of the Abraham Accords.

Israel
Middle East

MENASource

May 6, 2025

Beyond the bomb: Ideology as the engine of Iran’s nuclear doctrine

By Marjan Keypour Greenblatt

The US cannot overlook that Iran’s nuclear program is not simply about deterrence—it is a tool for advancing a revolutionary ideology.

Iran
Middle East

MENASource

May 5, 2025

How China turned the Red Sea into a strategic trap for the US

By Fatima Abo Alasrar

Beijing’s proxy warfare turns global trade routes into battlefields that the United States struggles to defend.

China
Economy & Business

MENASource

Apr 30, 2025

From Tripoli to Tehran: Lessons from Libya in US-Iran nuclear talks

By Yaseen Rashed

Twenty-one years later, the nuclear disarmament of Libya serves as a model for the United States in current nuclear negotiations with Iran.

Iran
Libya

MENASource

Apr 29, 2025

Why the US must not let Syria slip away

By Luke Wagner

Reconsidering the uneasy US-Syria relationship amid reports that Trump and al-Sharaa will meet during the US president’s Saudi Arabia visit.

Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion
Middle East

Event Recap

Apr 29, 2025

Wargaming the Middle East: How Iran might reshape its Hezbollah proxy playbook

By Maayan Dagan and Luke Wagner

In March 2025, the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council hosted a War Game to explore how Iran will shape the future of its proxy strategy, particularly its relationship with Hezbollah.

Conflict
Crisis Management

MENASource

Apr 28, 2025

Why Israel will resist any US-Iran nuclear deal

By Danny Citrinowicz  

Negotiations between the United States and Iran have displayed a significant divide between Washington and it’s ally Israel.

Iran
Israel

MENASource

Apr 25, 2025

Will Pope Francis’s Middle East legacy endure?

By Karim Mezran

The late Pope’s final address on Easter Sunday was a capstone in a track record of advocacy for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.

International Norms
Middle East

MENASource

Apr 25, 2025

Geopolitics in orbit: What Gulf moonshots mean for Washington

By Isabella Torre

On a multipolar world stage with Russia and China power competition, it’s clear that space collaboration has all-too-earthly impacts.

Middle East
Politics & Diplomacy
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