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

Aug 3, 2018

Why Trump’s Zig-Zag Diplomacy Towards Iran Will Fail

By Shahir Shahidsaless

President Donald Trump’s foreign policy – like his other policies – has seemed more about self-gratification than national interest.  He quit the Iran nuclear deal, undoing years of diplomacy, largely to erase part of the legacy of his predecessor, Barack Obama. Assisted by his administration, the current president poses as a hero forcing the Iranian […]

Iran

IranSource

Aug 2, 2018

Back to the Future Off Hormuz

By Owen Daniels

“If they impose sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, then even one drop of oil cannot flow from the Strait of Hormuz.” After a long week of Iran headlines – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laying out the administration’s Iran strategy, Presidents Trump and Rouhani trading implicit threats of war, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) Commander Qassem Suleimani addressing […]

Iran
Saudi Arabia

New Atlanticist

Aug 2, 2018

Back to the Future Off Hormuz

By Owen Daniels

“If they impose sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, then even one drop of oil cannot flow from the Strait of Hormuz.” After a long week of Iran headlines – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laying out the administration’s Iran strategy, Presidents Trump and Rouhani trading implicit threats of war, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force […]

Iran
Saudi Arabia

IranSource

Aug 2, 2018

First Wave of Resumed Iran Sanctions Targets Automobiles, Currency, Gold

By Holly Dagres

As part of the United States’ withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the US Treasury Department will restore sanctions on a number of key Iranian sectors and activities on August 6. Here’s what you need to know about this set of sanctions: What is the JCPOA? The JCPOA or Iran nuclear deal […]

Iran

IranSource

Jul 31, 2018

Could Releasing Iran’s Green Movement Leaders Help Reformists?

By Arash Azizi

It all started with a rumor. By July 28, many Iranians discussed the imminent release of the Green Movement leaders—Mir-Hossein Mousavi, his wife Zahra Rahnavard and Mehdi Karroubi—who are under house arrest since early 2011 for leading the 2009 post-election protests. Karroubi’s son, Hossein, said that a “credible source” had informed him that Iran’s Supreme […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

Jul 30, 2018

Trump Says He’s Willing to Meet Iran’s Rouhani Without Preconditions

By David Wemer

Eight days ago, US President Donald J. Trump warned Hassan Rouhani of dire “consequences” should the Iranian president persist with his threats against the United States. On July 30, Trump said he would be willing to meet with the Iranian leader at any time “with no preconditions.” “If they [the Iranians] want to meet, we’ll […]

Iran

SyriaSource

Jul 30, 2018

Russia’s refugee ploy

By Frederic C. Hof

Moscow’s sudden interest in expediting the return of Syrian refugees to their homes is not prompted by humanitarian concerns. Neither is it motivated by a desire to promote political conditions inside Syria that would encourage people to return to the country from which they fled.

Syria

IranSource

Jul 30, 2018

Renewed Iran Sanctions Will Bolster the Regime and Undermine the Private Sector

By Sina Azodi

The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and pursue a policy of “maximum pressure” on the Islamic Republic has been coupled with a public diplomacy campaign in alleged support of the Iranian people. But the result is likely to be a stronger central government, as sanctions crush private enterprise and force […]

Iran

IranSource

Jul 27, 2018

Iranians Await New Sanctions With Stoic Pessimism

By Giorgia Perletta

Tehran – President Donald Trump’s all-cap Twitter threats that Iran would “suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before” if it got into a war with the United States has only compounded a sense of gloomy expectation in the Iranian capital. Judging from this author’s recent visit to Tehran, Iranians are resigned […]

SyriaSource

Jul 26, 2018

Here’s why Syrian women are integral to peace

By Tamara Alrifai and Rachel Dore-Weeks

Eight years and many conferences into the Syria conflict, Syrian women still struggle to have their voices heard in decision making forums that directly impact them as citizens, and as political, economic, and civil society actors. Syrian women present at the western male-dominated EU-UN conference, Supporting Syria and the Region—known as Brussels II—in April 2018, explicitly spoke to the political processes that failed to include them, and to an aid industry that did not address their needs, including in protection from violence. 

Syria
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