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

IranSource

Jan 1, 2021

The Qasem Soleimani assassination feels like ages ago—but Iran hasn’t forgotten

By Holly Dagres

A year after Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani’s death, Iranians haven’t forgotten—and the Iranian government will make sure that they don’t.

Iran
Middle East

IranSource

Jan 1, 2021

Soleimani assassination failed to re-establish ‘deterrence’ against Iran

By Barbara Slavin

The threat of a wider war between the US and Iran remains as both the Trump administration and Israel have recently deployed more assets to the region including submarines, aircraft carriers and B-52 bombers.

Iran
Middle East

MENASource

Dec 24, 2020

How Moroccans reacted to normalization with Israel

By Zineb Riboua

Moroccans were not surprised to see their country became the fourth Arab nation to normalize relations with Israel—it was the US’s recognition of Western Sahara that astonished them since Morocco’s identity is intertwined with that of Western Sahara.

Middle East
North Africa

IranSource

Dec 23, 2020

Zam: The family that picked their son over the revolution

By Arash Azizi

The regime’s forty-one-year history is filled with fathers who didn’t mourn the killing of their children by the republic they served.

Iran
Middle East

MENASource

Dec 23, 2020

Five decades of Baathism survived because of nationalism

By Rahaf Aldoughli

Implicit in understanding the role of nationalism in maintaining the Assad regime’s survival is exploring the extent to which this ideology has given support to it.

Middle East
Syria

MENASource

Dec 22, 2020

The quest for water: Will the Abraham Accords change the water landscape for the region?

By Rumaitha Al Busaidi

With the threat of climate change already creating direct consequences for water security and conflict, safeguarding water for the region will prove to not only be a challenging task, but an even more crucial one than during the last multilateral efforts in the 1990s.

Climate Change & Climate Action
Energy & Environment

MENASource

Dec 21, 2020

Global litigation strategies to close the accountability gap on human rights violators in Iran

By Lucy Grathwohl

Gissou Nia and a panel of litigators—Haydee Dijkstal, Amanda Ghahremani, Scott Gilmore—discussed the tools through which the perpetrators of gross human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) can be held accountable in the United States, Europe, and Canada.

Human Rights
Middle East

MENASource

Dec 18, 2020

President-elect Joe Biden can help end the war in Yemen

By Khaled H. Alyemany

If President-elect Joe Biden commits to putting an end to the war in Yemen, he can prevent Yemen from falling into the hands of warlords and Iran’s proxy network—namely the Houthis and Lebanese Hezbollah—as well as other terrorist groups like al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and ISIS.

Middle East
Yemen

Arab Spring

Dec 17, 2020

Tunisia’s political landscape a decade after the Jasmine revolution

By Dario Cristiani

As Tunisia approaches the tenth anniversary of its revolution, it faces a pandemic that has induced a historical economic crisis with significant social and political ramifications in the years to come.

Middle East
North Africa

IranSource

Dec 15, 2020

Under sanctions, Iran’s black market for medicine grows

By Saumaun Heiat

For the traffickers, each day is a new opportunity to make more money off Iranians trying to weather the storm of COVID-19 and sanctions.

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