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.
Contacts continue to free US and other hostages and to encourage Iran to increase transparency about its nuclear advances. It is already too late for a military solution and Iran’s other challenges also defy simple remedies.
May 8, 2023
Amid domestic strife and an erosion of democratic values, Israel’s nuclear politics may also face a reckoning
May 4, 2023
The ascent of ultra-conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi as president and economic and social chaos resulting from his incompetence and excesses have fueled a new wave of emigration from Iran
May 2, 2023
Is the regime responsible — and does Russia play a role?
April 27, 2023
75 years after its founding, what is Israel's path forward?
April 25, 2023
Exploring the complex and devastating legacy of the invasion, the occupation and decisions made by Iraqi and international leaders in the years following, what could have been done differently, and how Iraq’s current situation can be understood.
April 21, 2023
Bucking the trend to rehabilitate Bashar al-Assad, Qatar has maintained that restoring diplomatic relations would require political concessions to the Syrian opposition — something Assad has shown no willingness to do
April 20, 2023
The Trump administration’s unilateral withdrawal in 2018 from the 2015 nuclear deal triggered a new slide in the value of the Iranian rial and a desperate struggle by Iranians to protect their savings
April 19, 2023
