Middle East & North Africa

Despite close ties to Iran, Iran has been practically ignored in major projects such as China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the Trans-Caspian Sea

The fall of Assad reshapes Middle Eastern dynamics, challenging Iran’s influence and offering cautious hope for regional change amid persistent complexities

Turkey’s support of the Syrian opposition not only weakens Assad but targets the Kurdish military stationed in northern Syria across the Turkish border

By cultivating the Houthis, the Kremlin is signaling that it can reach any geography to hurt the West and punish it for opposing Russia’s territorial ambitions in Ukraine

The Biden administration’s efforts to support peace while degrading Houthi military capabilities have made it difficult to achieve diplomatic progress

A broad range of risk to northern Israel and, potentially, to critical areas of central Israel is what drives Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon today

Any new U.S.-Iran agreement would likely require Israeli buy-in and a meaningful regional pullback by Tehran, including reduced support for militant groups like Hezbollah and Hamas