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The latest pieces from MENASource:

MENASource

Sep 19, 2025

How Israel’s strike on Doha is forcing a Gulf security reckoning

By Giorgio Cafiero

The Gulf monarchies have displayed strong unity at a time when rethinking twenty-first-century Gulf security is no longer optional.

Israel Middle East

MENASource

Sep 19, 2025

Snapback sanctions threaten to further derail Iran nuclear deal hopes

By Rob Macaire

Now would be the best time for the West to negotiate a deal with Iran—but snapback sanctions threaten a derailing into further confrontation.

Economic Sanctions Iran

MENASource

Sep 18, 2025

Libya’s stalled transition: When domestic spoilers meet foreign interests

By Luis Aleman and Karim Mezran

Libya’s stalled transition has not happened by chance; it has been deliberately engineered into paralysis by both domestic spoilers and foreign powers.

Libya Middle East
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Through our Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, 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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Content

In the News

May 31, 2019

Lipner quoted in The Wall Street Journal on delays in US push for Israeli-Palestinian peace
Israel Politics & Diplomacy

MENASource

May 31, 2019

Deciphering the rhetoric and posturing of US-Iran tensions

By Mona Alami

Since his election, US President Donald Trump has pursued a maximum pressure policy toward Iran, in an attempt to push Tehran back to the negotiating table. Yet, despite increasing US pressure on Iran, tit for tat statements, and subversive operations in the Persian Gulf, Tehran is far from willing to antagonize Washington to the point of no return.

Iran

IranSource

May 31, 2019

How US sanctions hinder Iranians’ access to medicine

By Sina Azodi

The United States has over the past four decades imposed a wide range of economic sanctions to punish Iran for a number of undesired policies. While Trump administration officials continue to insist that food and medicine are exempt from US sanctions, and that sanctions do not hurt the Iranian people, evidence suggests that unilateral sanctions are collectively punishing the Iranian population by denying them adequate and reliable access to medicine.

Iran

New Atlanticist

May 30, 2019

Netanyahu’s political setback casts a shadow over Kushner’s Middle East peace plan

By James B. Cunningham

Netanyahu now finds himself the victim of a political landscape which he himself had a large part in shaping over the past ten years, unable to build his Likud into a majority party, and beholden to far-right and ultra-orthodox religious parties on the one hand and to the secular followers of Avigdor Liberman on the other. 

Elections Israel

MENASource

May 30, 2019

Why is Bahrain hosting the mideast peace conference?

By Grace Wermenbol

Following a long period of anticipation and repeated delays, US officials announced earlier this month that they will hold an economic workshop in Bahrain in late June as the first step in the administration’s road map for peace between Israel and Palestine.

Israel Middle East

In the News

May 30, 2019

Lipner quoted in The Telegraph on the White House’s plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace
Israel Politics & Diplomacy

Issue Brief

May 30, 2019

When the friend of my friends is not my friend

By Mark N. Katz

Russia is once again a major player in the Middle East. Moscow has notably backed the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while it has a growing footprint in Iran, Turkey, and the Gulf. Russia’s return to the region has posed significant challenges for transatlantic policymaking in this era of renewed great-power competition. This new […]

Middle East Russia

Issue Brief

May 30, 2019

When the friend of my friends is not my friend

By Mark N. Katz

Russia is once again a major player in the Middle East. Moscow has notably backed the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while it has a growing footprint in Iran, Turkey, and the Gulf. Russia's return to the region has posed significant challenges for transatlantic policymaking in this era of renewed great-power competition.

Middle East Russia

In the News

May 29, 2019

Rosenblum in The Hill: Why Intelligence Officials Need to Brief Congress on Iranian Threats

Read the full article here

Iran

In the News

May 29, 2019

Holly Dagres quoted in Mondoweiss: Israeli ‘intelligence’ is fostering US bellicosity toward Iran — but ‘quietly’

By Holly Dagres

Read More Here

Iran Israel
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Experts

Fellow

Thomas S. Warrick

Nonresident Senior Fellow, Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative

Adrienne Arsht National Security Resilience Initiative GeoStrategy Initiative

National Security Terrorism
John Watts

Fellow

John T. Watts

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Conflict Crisis Management

Staff

William F. Wechsler

Senior Director, Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

National Security Middle East

Executive Leadership Intensive participant

Alexander Werman

Senior Associate, The Cohen Group

Millennium Leadership Program

Middle East Politics & Diplomacy

Fellow

Rachel Whitlark

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense

Defense Policy Israel

Millennium fellow

Mor Yahalom

Senior Advisor, Ministry of Defense, Israel

Millennium Leadership Program

Civil Society Middle East
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