How Might the Incoming Second Administration of Donald Trump Reduce the Threat of Attacks with Millions of Foreign Strangers Already Inside the U.S.?
Last Year’s Sequence of Events Has Substantially Shifted the Strategic Balance of the Region
Almost Every President Since the End of the Cold War Had His Foreign Policy Legacy Defined by a War No One Could Have Foreseen
The U.S. and Europe Should Call Out Turkey’s Efforts to Reshape the Occupied Zone In Its Image and Subordinate Indigenous Turkish Cypriots
ISIS’s January 2024 Call to Random Violence Explains the Deadly Logic Behind Recent Vehicular Terror Attacks in New Orleans and Germany.
Missed Warning Signs and Unanswered Questions Surround Abdallahi’s Violent Path to Terrorism in Chicago, Highlighting Critical Gaps in Border Security and Investigative Transparency
Clumsy U.S. Diplomacy Has Undermined Israel’s Battlefield Successes Against Hezbollah and Linked Lebanon’s Political Fate with Syria
Efforts to Unify Rebel Factions in Post-Assad Syria Face Distrust and Competing Agendas
Broad Implications for the United States from the First Accused Islamic Terrorist to Illegally Cross the Southern Border and Shoot an American for Jihad
Erdoğan Wants NATO Mutual Defense Commitments at Least Until Turkey Gets the Bomb
The Kurdish Lack of Leaders Who Can Cast Tribal Interests Aside and Rise to the Occasion Hurts Their Cause, Perhaps Fatally
Abdulkadir Şen—A Radical Who Has Evaded Terrorism Investigations in Turkey—Made Predictions About Global Jihad’s Evolving Tactics and Targets
Delisting the PKK, or at Least Lifting Bounties on Its Three Leaders, Would Have Several Immediate Benefits
They Despise Celebrations Not Sanctioned by Islam and See Christmas as a Crime Against Allah
Ahmed Al-Sharaa Hopes to Convince the World He’s Left His Jihadist past Behind, but FM Gideon Sa’Ar and Other Senior Officials Are Not Persuaded
Spotlight on War with Iran
The ceasefire still technically exists but negotiations seem stalled if not dead in the water. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz got its first bump as two US-flagged vessels transited on May 3, 2026. President Trump says more will follow.
But Iran has fired on several other civilian tankers and it does not appear likely the war will end without some reignition of hostilities. The blockade has taken a heavy toll on Iran’s economy. The lack of oil revenue paired with the dwindling storage space for oil they pump seems the most potent leverage for any deal. MEF fellows and experts weigh in on all of this.
But Iran has fired on several other civilian tankers and it does not appear likely the war will end without some reignition of hostilities. The blockade has taken a heavy toll on Iran’s economy. The lack of oil revenue paired with the dwindling storage space for oil they pump seems the most potent leverage for any deal. MEF fellows and experts weigh in on all of this.
As unrest spreads across Iran, the regime and the opposition both face narrowing choices.
The Strait’s Closure Disrupts the Flow of More than 20 Percent of the World’s Oil and Gas Supplies
The Choice Facing the U.S. Is to Intensify and Escalate the Pressure, or to Accept a Face-Saving Deal Likely to Leave the Regime’s Regional Project Intact
Iran’s Energy Weakness Could Become Its Strategic Breaking Point
The Lebanese Government Will Not Risk Pushing Hezbollah Into Using Violence Against It by Trying to Disarm It
Spotlight on Oil and Energy
The kinetic action has mostly stopped but the maneuvering for power, which means energy, in the region has gotten even more heated. The oil and natural gas from the Middle East constitutes 25% of the world’s energy supply.
The UAE has left OPEC and may be in a position to increase that percentage and also ease the current supply shortage. The Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al Mandeb Strait have historically been chokepoints. But pipelines are making threats to those less powerful. These issues and more are getting the attention of Middle East Forum authors.
The UAE has left OPEC and may be in a position to increase that percentage and also ease the current supply shortage. The Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al Mandeb Strait have historically been chokepoints. But pipelines are making threats to those less powerful. These issues and more are getting the attention of Middle East Forum authors.
Bitter About Being Caught off Guard by the U.S. Attack on Iran and the End of Its Mediator Role, Oman Now Chooses Iran’s Side
The Most Significant Implication May Be What It Reveals About the Broader Collapse of the Gulf Hedging Architecture
Iranian Authorities Continue to Project Defiance but the Economy Appears to Have Limited Remaining Resilience
The Pipeline Would Cost Billions of Dollars, Take Years to Build, and Would Cross Multiple Jurisdictions, Not All of Them Reliable
The Decision Sends a Signal That National Priorities Now Outweigh Collective Discipline
Recovery Will Not Be Simply a Return to the Old Model, Now That Gulf States Are Diversifying Their Energy and Economies
Middle East Quarterly - Current Issue
Founded in 1994 by Daniel Pipes, MEQ is the Middle East Forum’s journal intended for both scholars and the educated public. Policymakers, opinion-makers, academics, and journalists write for and read the Quarterly, which is known for exclusive interviews, in-depth historical articles, and book reviews on subjects ranging from archaeology to politics and on countries from Morocco to Iran.
Spring 2026 Volume 33: Number 2
Spring 2026 Volume 33: Number 2
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A New Report Examines How the United States and Israel Must Design the Successor Framework to U.S. Military Aid -
Letter to HHS Secretary Justifies MEF Campaign to Blacklist Terror-Aligned Groups -
Flagship Research Series Documents Blasphemy Laws, Forced Labor, and Social Segregation Targeting 3.3 Million Pakistani Christians -
Legislation Backed by Decades of MEF Research Would Strip Hamas-Aligned Group of Tax-Exempt Status, Block Assets, and Force Dissolution
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Hezbollah Has No Interest in Lebanese Sovereignty or Peace and Is Simply Acting as a Tool for Iran and Other Rejectionists -
America and Israel Can Win This War on the Condition That They Understand It’s Not One Linear Movement -
Bat Ye’or, Who Introduced the Concept of ‘Dhimmitude,’ Warned That Europe Could Become ‘Eurabia’ -
Although Lebanon Was Considered a Friendly Neighbor When Israel Was Established Some 80 Years Ago, for Nearly 60 Years It Has Been a Threat
Middle East Forum Observer
Founded in 2024, the Observer provides rapid analysis on leading Middle East developments, from Marrakech to Mashhad and the Bab el-Mandeb to the Black Sea.
Launched in 2006, Islamist Watch is a project of the Middle East Forum. We work to combat the ideas and institutions of lawful Islamism in the United States and throughout the West. Arguing that “radical Islam is the problem, moderate Islam is the solution,” we seek to expose the Islamist organizations that currently dominate the debate, while identifying and promoting the work of moderate Muslims.
CAMPUS WATCH, a project of the Middle East Forum, reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North America with an aim to improving them. The project mainly addresses five problems: analytical failures, the mixing of politics with scholarship, intolerance of alternative views, apologetics, and the abuse of power over students. Campus Watch fully respects the freedom of speech of those it debates while insisting on its own freedom to comment on their words and deeds.
Antisemitism
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The Emerging Evidence Suggests That This Organization Is a Front for Elements Operating on Behalf of the Iranian Regime -
Green Party Deputy Blames Rising Food Prices for Antisemitism -
The Alliance Is Resilient, but a Weakened One Would Reduce U.S. Influence and Create Opportunities for Competitors -
International Humanitarian Law Prohibits Targeted Attacks on Civilians and Attacks That Cannot Distinguish Between Civilian and Military Targets
Gaza
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Despite Ceasefires Across Three Fronts, All Sides Are Preparing for Renewed Combat -
Hamas Has Poured Financial Support Into Two Recent Flotillas Through Its European Networks -
Anniversary Rhetoric Masks Economic Collapse and Strategic Drift -
An Emerging Militant Alternative to Hamas Speaks Out on War, Governance, and Peace.
