Iranian President Pezeshkian’s visit to Iraq boosts economic ties and diplomacy
Iranian President Pezeshkian is visiting Iraq to strengthen economic ties and diplomatic relations, focusing on cooperation and Shi'ite shrines.
Basra
Mohammad Mokhber: Khamenei’s Confidant
On May 19, 2024, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash. Mohammad Mokhber, the first deputy president, will serve as interim president until Iran holds elections for a new president. Iran...
Policy Briefs
CBI Revoking Bank Melli’s License Is Unlikely to Curb Iran’s Sanction Evasion in Iraq
The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) revoked Bank Melli of Iran’s operating license on February 8, following increased U.S. pressure to untangle Iraq’s financial system from Iranian money laundering and...
Policy Briefs
Iran Seizes Oil Tanker Off Coast of Oman
The Iranian navy announced on January 11 that it seized the St. Nikolas oil tanker near the Omani port of Sohar. Iran claims its actions are in retaliation for the American seizure...
Flash Briefs
Tehran predicts Russia-China-Iran triangle of power – analysis
Iran hopes to ally with Eastern powers to gain economic and political power in the Middle East.
Op-eds
Can COP28 Expand Israeli Water for Arab Peace?
Iraq needs water. Israel has mastered desalination and other water-saving methods. Cooperation in this regard could achieve great things.
Op-eds
Iran has Iraq’s Kurds in its crosshairs
After decimating Iraq’s Sunnis during years of political and military conquest, Iran and its Iraqi militias have now set their sights on Iraqi Kurdistan, harassing its government, targeting its energy...
Op-eds
Diplomatic Arson in the Middle East
The Biden administration’s torching of U.S.-Saudi relations
Op-eds
Iraq
U.S. Sanctions on Iran: Is Natural Gas Next?
The Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign is having a significant impact on Iran’s macroeconomic stability and draining the government’s export earnings and reserves. As Iranian oil exports...
Insights
State designates Iran-backed League of the Righteous as Foreign Terrorist Organization
The U.S. Department of State has added Asaib Ahl al Haq, an Iranian-backed Iraqi Shia terror group also known as “League of the Righteous,” to its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Additionally,...
Op-eds
Crisis Of The Iranian Order
The “transnational”: this is how Qassem Soleimani, the former head of Iran’s Qods Force, who was killed in a January U.S. missile strike in Baghdad, is described in Hezbollah-run schools in Lebanon....
Op-eds
U.S. kills Iran’s Qods Force commander and Iraq’s deputy PMF leader in strike in Baghdad
A U.S. drone strike near the Baghdad International Airport has reportedly killed Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, the...
Op-eds
Iran is pushing Iraq to the brink. Iraqis are fighting back.
Protestors in Iraq are fighting against government corruption and Iran’s malign influence, which is built on hard power, not public good will. Tehran has a lot to lose. “Iran and Iraq are two nations...
Op-eds
Iran-Backed Militias Are In Iraq to Stay
Prime Minister Mahdi is trying to bring the Popular Mobilization Forces under control of the government, but even he probably knows it won’t work.
Op-eds
Burning Bridge: The Iranian Land Corridor to the Mediterranean
Monographs
Making Sense of Iranian Escalation
Tensions are escalating with the Islamic Republic of Iran. On May 12, a flurry of ...
Op-eds
Midterm Assessment: Iraq
Here’s How Trump Should Prepare for Iranian Escalation
Once sanctions are back in full force, the United States needs to be ready for the worst.
Op-eds
Iraqi Militant Qayis Khazali Warned Us About Iran. We Ignored Him.
Iran has its tentacles all over Iraq, and the United States has no one to blame but itself. It is a bipartisan failure dating back to the March 2003 invasion. Even after the Bush administration a...