Persian Gulf

Have We Lost the Iran War?

Has the United States lost the Iran war?  The Iranian regime certainly thinks it has.  The big Iranian funk that came after the 12-Day War in June, which climaxed the Israeli multi-front offensive...

America’s Must-Win Battle of Hormuz

The only hope to win the war is to deprive the Islamic Republic of control over the crucial strait.

10 Ways the U.S. Can Strengthen Deterrence in the Taiwan Strait

Houthis take Yemen’s Red Sea coast and key Bab al Mandeb islands

On September 10, the Houthis seized the strategic port city of Mocha on Yemen’s southern Red Sea coast. The next day, the Iran-backed group pushed south, culminating with the capture of the...

Qatar still hosts Hamas’s top brass, one year after they were targeted

One year ago today, Hamas officials in Qatar narrowly escaped death. On September 9, 2025, Israel launched an airstrike on a Hamas meeting in Doha. The strike failed to wipe out Hamas’s upper ranks....

Iran’s Cyber Retaliation Strategy

Over the last decade, Iran has developed cyber capabilities that can target US and European water and electricity systems.

Iraq’s Growing Oil Exports Through Basra Should Not Become an Asset for Iran

Basra, Iraq’s oil export hub perched on the Persian Gulf, is busier than it has been since conflict between the United States and Iran began in February. According to Bloomberg, satellite imagery...

Operation Economic Outcast is a recipe for success against Iran

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday launched what he called Operation Economic Outcast — a global campaign to shut down every last source of financial oxygen feeding a fractured rump...

Why a Saudi Nuclear Program Is Not Worth Ending US Nonproliferation Policy

It is unlikely that Russia or China would be willing to support a Saudi nuclear program if the United States refuses to do so.

Kim Jong Un’s European front

North Korea is learning modern warfare on Ukrainian ground—and Russia is paying the tuition

Open-Source Intel Makes U.S. Troops an Easier Target for Iran

Iran is reading American service members’ social media feeds to deadly effect. The fact is that not all intelligence must be gleaned from secret, closed sources for it to be effective, and Tehran...

Iraq Struggles To Find Oil Export Options, but the UAE May Be Able To Help

Iraq relies on oil revenue for over 90 percent of its budget. With exports hovering at around half of the usual 3.4 million barrels per day (bpd) that were exported before Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz,...

Tehran’s reshuffle leaves no pragmatic opening

upreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s latest appointments to Iran’s top security and paramilitary institutions are not routine personnel changes but a reflection of his priorities for tighter control over...

Erdogan’s Iraq play: A bigger game than oil

There is an easy way to read Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to host Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al Zaidi in Ankara on July 28, and to call the visit “historic”: as an energy...

Trump Administration Foreign Policy Tracker: August

Trend Overview Welcome back to the Trump Administration Foreign Policy Tracker. Once a month, we ask FDD’s experts and scholars to assess the administration’s foreign policy. They provide trendlines...

As Iran batters the Gulf states, Trump’s course is beyond clear

President Donald Trump says he has “plenty of time” for talks with Iran. That works because Washington, DC, is 7,000 miles away from the Strait of Hormuz. But if you are in Dubai,...

The Houthis Are Hitting Saudi Arabia’s Energy Pipeline — and Here’s Why That Matters

Saudi Arabia has weathered Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz by relying on its east-west pipeline to send crude from the kingdom’s energy-rich eastern province to the Red Sea terminal...

The Middle East Moves Toward a Multifront Maritime War

Yemen’s Houthis have brought the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait into the conflict between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran — blocking millions more barrels of oil from easily...

Why the Houthis Declared a Blockade on Saudi Arabia

The Yemeni militant group is poised to disrupt another key chokepoint in the global energy supply.

Iran reportedly tells Houthis to close Bab al Mandeb Strait if US strikes power grid

Three sources told Reuters on July 16 that Iran has instructed Yemen’s Houthis to close the Red Sea to shipping if the US attacks Iran’s power network, which President Donald Trump threatened to...