Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

February 18, 2025 | Behnam Ben Taleblu |

Tehran’s Trump Trap

Iran is seeking to gain leverage while hoping that Washington will misread its own weakness and fear as goodwill and restraint.

February 17, 2025 | Janatan Sayeh |

From Afghanistan to America: the rising reach of the Islamic State Khorasan Province

Four years after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the threat posed by the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) has expanded beyond the region, now endangering both American and European soil.

February 13, 2025 | Jonathan Schanzer |

Disruptions and Challenges in the Middle East

Significant challenges await the Trump administration’s attention.

February 7, 2025 | |

Iran Takes Delivery of Drone Ship as Supreme Leader Downplays Potential for New Nuclear Talks With Trump Administration

New Iranian Drone Carrier Delivered: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy received its first drone carrier ship, according to Iranian state media reports on February...

February 6, 2025 | Janatan Sayeh |

Unpacking Iran’s counterintelligence apparatus

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently issued “seeking information” posters for two operatives of the Islamic Republic’s intelligence services implicated in the 2007 abduction...

February 5, 2025 | |

‘Denying Iran All Paths to a Nuclear Weapon’: Trump Reimposes Maximum Pressure Against Tehran

Washington Reinstates Maximum Pressure on Tehran: President Donald Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum on February 4, titled “Denying Iran All Paths to a...

February 4, 2025 | Seth J. Frantzman |

Drone attack targets gas field in northern Iraq

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) targeted the Khor Mor gas field in northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region on February 2, 2025. It is the latest kamikaze drone attack on the gas field run by Dana Gas.

February 3, 2025 | Saeed Ghasseminejad |

Cracks in the Core? The Meaning Behind Iran’s Assassinations

As Iran’s economic, regional, and domestic standing deteriorates, senior and junior officials alike will begin to realize that the regime cannot ensure their safety.

February 2, 2025 | Jonathan Schanzer |

Trump’s Second Shot at Peace in the Middle East

REVIEW: ‘One Jewish State: The Last, Best Hope to Resolve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict’ by David Friedman and ‘The Battle for the Jewish State: How Israel—And America—Can Win’ by Victoria Coates

January 30, 2025 | Janatan Sayeh |

Trump’s Return Pushes Iran Into a Defensive Posture

Increasingly fearful of their loosening grip on power, the Islamic Republic’s rulers are recalibrating their foreign policy, at least temporarily, to gauge the impact of Donald Trump’s return to the...

January 28, 2025 | Seth J. Frantzman |

Iranian-backed militias in Iraq face an uncertain future

Iraq’s pro-Iranian militias face an uncertain future after the December fall of the Bashar al Assad regime in Syria and amid pressure from Iraqi authorities for armed groups to be disbanded or incorporated...

January 24, 2025 | |

Ships in China Loaded With Missile Fuel Ingredients Prepare to Set Sail for Iran

Enough Fuel for Hundreds of Missiles: China continues to demonstrate its support for Iran as reports this week indicated that two Iranian ships docked in China had been loaded with...

January 23, 2025 | Bill Roggio |

Trump administration re-designates Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization

President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing his administration to re-designate the Houthis in Yemen as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The move reverses a decision by the Biden administration...

January 22, 2025 | Clifford D. May |

Hamas celebrates

As Israelis cease firing and release terrorists to bring hostages home

January 20, 2025 | Dr. Brenda Shaffer, Dalga Khatinoglu

Iran’s Energy Crisis

Iran is experiencing a systemic energy crisis. While many times in the past, Iran has had gas shortages or refined product shortages, this time Iran is undergoing an energy meltdown, with parallel shortages...

January 19, 2025 | Ben Cohen, Toby Dershowitz

A Break in the Argentina Murder Case Tied to Iran

Ten years ago, on January 18, 2015, an Argentinian prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, was murdered for investigating the 1994 terrorist bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. That 1994 attack...

January 14, 2025 | Edmund Fitton-Brown |

The role of Iraqi Shia militias as proxies in Iran’s Axis of Resistance

Iran’s 45-year trajectory from the Khomeini revolution to its current challenge to Israel, the West, and the Rules-Based International System (RBIS) led to developing and solidifying its “Axis...

January 13, 2025 | |

Ahead of Trump Return, Iran Strengthens Forces, Hosts Large Military Exercises

Iran Stages War Games Utilizing Air Defenses: Iran’s army hosted extensive wargames and military exercises on January 11, including a defense scenario simulating airstrikes against...

January 8, 2025 | |

‘Disengaging Armed Factions’: Tehran Recalculates Its Influence in Iraq

Tehran and Baghdad Discuss Regional Developments: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran on January 8. The two leaders...

January 8, 2025 | Natalie Ecanow |

Syria’s New Authorities Vow to Shutter Captagon Trade

Narcotraffickers who attempted to flood Jordan with over 27 million illicit captagon pills in 2024 may now be out of business. “When it comes to captagon and drug smuggling, we promise it is over and...