The Stimson Center’s Middle East Program seeks to inform policy discussions on the Middle East by leveraging regional expertise, convening dialogues, and producing rigorous, non-partisan analysis and scholarship. The program assesses regional geopolitical developments with a focus on conflict management, regional security, and post-conflict peacebuilding. Through sustained engagement with policymakers, scholars, and subject-matter experts, the program aims to advance practical policy thinking rooted in on-the-ground realities.
A core pillar of the program is the convening of high-level Track 1.5 and Track 2.0 regional dialogues that bring together policymakers, academics, and experts to conduct joint analysis, discuss de-escalation processes, and advance regional cooperation. The program also organizes issue-area roundtables to develop impactful policy recommendations informed by global lessons learned and regional experience. The program’s analysis and policy outputs are directly informed by the insights generated through these dialogues and roundtables.
Cancelling the deal would require substantial compensation costs and damage what has been a steadily growing alliance between Iran and Russia.
August 4, 2023
The contest between Iran, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia over natural resources in the northwestern Persian Gulf shows that Iran-Arab reconciliation could be a slow and fraught process
August 2, 2023
Iran’s Supreme Leader keeps ties with former officials who can be of use in backchannel negotiations on sensitive foreign policy issues
July 31, 2023
Iran’s belief that global power is shifting from a declining West to a powerful East is an ideological miscalculation
July 28, 2023
Without relief from U.S. sanctions, Iran looks to Africa to strengthen its economic, political , and ideological ties in the region
July 26, 2023
Reformists in Iran struggle to reinvent themselves as protests mount, the middle class shrinks and the country’s ‘quasi-democracy’ descends into a ‘pseudo-democracy’
July 24, 2023
U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal not only caused foreign companies to break contracts but made it more difficult for Iran to seek redress
July 19, 2023
Eight years after the JCPOA was reached, the European Union continues to cling to a moribund deal while Iran and the U.S. appear to have moved on
July 17, 2023
