Simon Henderson is the Baker Senior Fellow and director of the Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy at The Washington Institute, specializing in energy matters and the conservative Arab states of the Persian Gulf.
Articles & Testimony
The outcome of Israeli diplomacy, Iranian oil decisions, and Gulf hesitance may play a crucial role in the crisis, particularly if it drags on for months rather than weeks.
The “What can we do?” debate in Washington will likely be framed by numbers: What is the price of oil? What is happening on the stock market? How many refugees are fleeing? But one increasingly influential ingredient could be the Middle East. The breaking-the-Sabbath flights to Russia and then Germany by the religiously observant Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett may or may not produce some diplomatic breakthrough. The audacity of the initiative arguably reflects Israel’s sense that it must balance its horror over what is happening while not alienating Moscow, a key player in Syria...
