Middle East Institute

MEI was honored to be on Capitol Hill yesterday for a bipartisan conversation on the regional and global impacts of the Strait of Hormuz closure. Representatives @GoldmanCraig (R-TX) and @Schneider4IL10 (D-IL) — Co-Chairs of the Abraham Accords Caucus — convened the panel with MEI VP for Outreach @Yael Lempert and Senior Fellow @ProfessorKaren. Thank you to Reps. Schneider and Goldman, and the audience of congressional staffers, private-sector reps, diplomats and journalists who attended and asked the tough questions!

"The Iran war is dramatically increasing the strategic importance of the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa. And that means more outside interference in regional affairs and intensifying competition among these powers that operate there," explains @gonultol. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mid…

Join us on May 15 at 10 AM for a half-day conference examining the Iran war’s implications for global food security hosted by @IntissarFakir. @dbeasley1, former Executive Director of the @WFP and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, will deliver opening remarks. mei.edu/events/half-da…

“[Ocalan has] gained respect for moving forward with this peace process. ... He created this group [the PKK], developed Kurdish nationalism, and created [temporary self-rule] in northeast Syria. So, people take him seriously," @AlizaMarcus tells @gonultol. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wil…

What will U.S. engagement with the Gulf states look like after the current war with Iran? I take stock w/ @elisaewers44 in @ForeignAffairs. We explore the paradox that, for all the frustration & soul-searching & damage caused, the U.S. remains in position to sustain its Gulf partnerships afterwards. We look at what that would entail -- starting with the full opening of the Strait of Hormuz (no small task), multilateral engagement on maritime security, a joint accelerated effort vs drones & missiles, investments in hardened, resilient, redundant infrastructure, & a return to the business-led diplomacy of last May. linkedin.com/posts/daniel-p…

“If left unchecked, the [Saudi-UAE] rift threatens to destabilize fragile states in the Red Sea littoral, fragment the Middle East into competing poles, and further roil markets,” writes April Longley Alley for @MiddleEastInst's Middle East Journal. doi.org/10.3751/79.2.12

"The upcoming summit between Trump and Xi in China will offer some important initial signals about where America stands in the world as a result of the Iran war, and will also serve as a reminder of the limitations of trying to pivot or rebalance America’s strategic focus from one region of the world to another, when what is really needed is to toggle more effectively between multiple strategic issues at the same time," writes @Katulis in his latest column. mei.edu/publication/tr…

"[What Lebanon] needs to do is demonstrate in very clear ways that something is different. ... They've got to realize — and this is difficult — [but] Hizballah has no future in Lebanon, the only future is the Lebanese state," argues @dr_nickfn. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how…

"While Egypt is not in the direct line of fire in the US-Israeli war with Iran, its economy is acutely vulnerable to the conflict. [However] there is a good chance that Cairo will weather this storm better than previous ones," writes @mmabrouk. mei.edu/publication/ba…

“[If this war were to end tomorrow, President Trump will have] destabilized the Middle East. He has done grievous harm to the global economy... and he has made it more likely that Iran will seek a nuclear weapon — something it wasn’t doing before,” @AlanEyre1 tells @SkyNews.

Is America winning or losing in Iran? In a candid exchange moderated by @Katulis, former senior US officials @VictoriaCoates and Jon Finer find areas of agreement—but also diverge—on what the current trajectory of US policy toward Iran means for American strategy and influence. Find the full conversation at the link below ⬇️ mei.edu/events/is-amer…

“The way the US is posturing itself with the blockade is to add another element and flip the script a little bit … The Iranian reaction was to fire for effect, [but] what we don’t know is whether that’s going to become a sequence of events," explained Vice Adm. Kevin Donegan.

“Ceasefires always have issues where... one side does something that is not in line with the original intent. So [the latest strikes] are the least of my concerns right now. Time will tell us if the ceasefire holds, not what happened today,” explained Vice Adm. Kevin Donegan.

“I’m glad to see that Syria’s press freedom has increased significantly under the new Syrian government. I will continue to work with the Syrian government to ensure further progress is being made toward a stable and prosperous Syria for all.” -@SenatorShaheen

"Iran's factions fight fiercely, but usually with a shared commitment to regime survival. When the system believes that resistance serves survival, it resists. When it believes that talking serves survival, it talks," writes MEI's @AlexVatanka. en.majalla.com/node/330892/po…

MEI guest contributor @sianamazi argues that while the Islamic Republic's oil sector is under mounting pressure, the situation is far more complex. Read the full analysis: mei.edu/publication/wh…

MEI'S @ProfessorKaren told @ABC that gas prices “are going to keep going up.” "As a proportion of price increase, gas has risen [about] 42% in the United States — a crunch equal to or more than that of the most affected countries that first felt it." abcnews.com/video/13261670…