Statecraft Reimagined 2025:

More from MEF
Muslim clerics walk in Kerman, Iran, in this file photo.
Middle East Forum Observer
Target Iran’s Assembly of Experts
The Islamic Republic Might Be a Dictatorship, but Removing the Dictator Alone Will Not Be Enough
January 24, 2026
 · 
Elliot Nazar
A ceremony at Darul Uloom Texas, a Deobandi madrassa in Texas reportedly eligible for a new state subsidy program
FWI Research
The Islamist Schools Industry in Texas
Texas Schools Eligible for Public Funding Include Institutions Tied to Hostile Foreign Regimes and Designated Extremists, and Teachers Who Promote Terrorist Groups and Spread Overt Antisemitism
January 23, 2026
 · 
Sam Westrop
Turkey’s push to enter the global rare earth supply chain underscores the growing gap between mineral reserves and the technological capacity required to convert them into strategic economic assets.
Middle East Forum Online
Turkey’s Bid to Develop Rare Earth Minerals Hits Wall of Technology Restrictions
Despite Vast Reserves and State Investment, Ankara Struggles to Translate Geological Wealth into Industrial Capability
January 23, 2026
 · 
Abdullah Bozkurt
Middle East Forum Online
Is the U.S. Withdrawing from Syria?
Also Will Trump’s Armada Strike Iran and What Will be Built in Gaza?
January 23, 2026
 · 
Jim Hanson
The government’s campaign against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has moved fast. The government army has swept through Arab-majority Deir al-Zur and Raqqa provinces. Above: a makeshift dirt bridge crossing the Euphrates River between Damascus government-controlled areas and territory then under the control of the SDF.
Middle East Forum Online
ISIS May Prosper From Syria’s Dangerous Turn
The New Regime Seeks to Crush a U.S.-Backed Kurdish Force
January 23, 2026
 · 
Jonathan Spyer
President Donald Trump.
Middle East Forum Observer
As Iran Slaughters Protesters, Trump Sends Mixed Signals
For Protesters Who Have Already Paid in Blood, Symbolic Deterrence Offers Little Protection
January 23, 2026
 · 
Mardo Soghom
While a seventy-year-old Iranian woman with a bleeding mouth shouts that she has been “dead for 47 years," in the salons of New York, Paris, Stockholm, Berlin, Rome and London, thousands of perfectly alive people behave as if they were already half-dead—victims of the most vile death of all: preventive death.
Middle East Forum Online
The Courage of Iranians and the Cowardice of Westerners
Courage Emerges in Iran Where Fear No Longer Has Any Power
January 22, 2026
 · 
Giulio Meotti
Middle East Forum Online
Trump’s Gaza Push Is a Recipe for Hamas’s Revival, but Netanyahu Is Unwilling to Stir the Pot
Israel’s Prime Minister Is Accepting a Risky Phase Two That Could Leave Hamas Armed and Entrenched
January 22, 2026
 · 
Lazar Berman
Governance mechanisms create the appearance of progress, even as the underlying balance of power remains unchanged.
Middle East Forum Online
The 60,000 Rifle Mirage: Gaza’s Board of Peace Risks a Strategic Catastrophe
Gaza’s Proposed Transition Risks Freezing the War Rather Than Ending It
January 22, 2026
 · 
Amine Ayoub
The Islamic Republic today functions as a theocratic security regime organized around Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his family.
Middle East Forum Online
Why Iran’s Regime Didn’t Collapse
The Central Issue Is Why Sustained Unrest Has Not Yet Fractured the Regime—and the Answer Is That the Islamic Republic Was Built That Way
January 22, 2026
 · 
Saeid Golkar