by Eli Clifton For the second year in a row, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo chose an unusual venue in which to present new escalations in the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” strategy against Iran during the annual United Nations General… Continue Reading
by International Crisis Group What’s new? Middle Eastern states are accelerating their competition for allies, influence and physical presence in the Red Sea corridor, including in the Horn of Africa. Rival Gulf powers in particular are jockeying to set the terms… Continue Reading
by Emile Nakhleh As of this writing, President Trump seems to be using more severe sanctions as a response to the September 14 attack on two Saudi oil facilities, which he blames on Iran. It’s difficult to predict whether, in… Continue Reading
by Nicolas Dunais Martin Griffiths, the UN special envoy for Yemen, recently published an op-ed in the New York Times, rightfully calling for an end to the Yemen war before it expands into a broader regional conflagration. The guidelines he… Continue Reading
by Samuel Ramani In mid-October, Russian President Vladimir Putin will make his first visit to Saudi Arabia since 2007. Putin’s trip underscores Russia’s emergence as a major geopolitical stakeholder on the Arabian Peninsula and gives Moscow an opportunity to cement… Continue Reading