Policy Analysis

Although alternatives to the UN mechanism carry uncertainties of their own, continuing the broken status quo will only boost Moscow, endanger Syrian civilians, and help the Assad regime avoid sanctions—not to mention whetting his appetite for natural gas shipments.

A panel of veteran diplomats and scholars from the Gulf, Israel, and Washington discuss the trip’s goals and risks, as well as the president’s chances for success.

The administration has signaled its intentions for the trip well in advance, but the realities of Saudi oil capacity and global energy forecasts should temper any U.S. expectations of a quick fix.

The Gulf capitals and Jerusalem may not agree entirely on what “regional security cooperation” means or what an anti-Iran alliance should look like, but opportunities for other types of cooperation abound.

Iraq’s model of opposition traditionally focuses on ideological frameworks and regime change at the expense of working within the political system to effect change.

Tehran may see the president’s attendance at the GCC+3 summit as a tempting opportunity to scuttle a U.S.-Gulf reset, perhaps by using a cyber or military provocation to humiliate the hosts and demonstrate America’s inability to protect them.

Increased Saudi production will mean little if Libyan production remains unreliable, so it's time to play hardball with Haftar.

The meeting itself is the objective, and the more uneventful it is, the more it will be deemed a success.

Although political constraints in Washington, Jerusalem, and Riyadh could make substantive progress hard to come by, a few good photo ops may be all that's needed to deem the visit a success.

A new poll captures East Jerusalem attitudes towards Arab-Israeli rapprochement, involvement from other Arab countries, and the U.S. policy on the conflict.

Their political temperaments and policy priorities are a good match, but this chemistry does not guarantee progress on Iranian and Palestinian issues during an election year.

Unless the West can prod the Russian people to fundamentally reexamine their core beliefs, any notion that they will take matters into their own hands regarding Putin’s Ukraine war is just wishful thinking.

Efforts to reach an agreement during President Biden’s visit are laudable, but the administration must take care to ensure that any deal with Riyadh preserves the crucial regional security arrangements enshrined in the Egypt-Israel peace treaty.

To avoid past mistakes and counter the most potent threat on its borders, Israel requires an accurate intelligence picture in Lebanon, but Iran and Hezbollah risk destabilizing the situation by chipping away at the IDF’s air superiority.

A “more for more” agreement might be possible, but only if Iranian leaders are genuinely afraid of what they could lose without one.

A Hebrew version of the IDF major general's strategy paper, co-published by The Washington Institute and the Institute for Policy and Strategy at Israel's Reichman University.

Strategic priorities, political factors, and institutional inertia make it hard to remove a group from government lists even if it no longer meets the designation criteria, potentially hog-tying U.S. policymakers.

Interactive datasets, from 2014 to today

A veteran Israeli security and intelligence official explains why the Biden administration must reinvigorate oil sanctions and demonstrate a commitment to act militarily.

An umbrella entity, the Islamic Radio and Television Union, encompasses more than two hundred media groups stretching from Oman to East Africa.