By Andrew Hammond

The EU isn’t getting weaker – in fact, it’s planning to have its own army

Emmanuel Macron hosts his German, Spanish and Italian counterparts in Paris on Monday after a morale-boosting few weeks for the EU.

Iran urges U.S. to stop meddling in regional countries’ affairs

TEHRAN - Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Thursday that the U.S. must stop meddling in domestic affairs of the countries in the Middle East region.

Soleimani says Iran highly influential in regional stability

TEHRAN – Senior Iranian military commander Major General Qassem Soleimani has said Iran is a central element of stability in the volatile Middle East.

By Hossein Askari, George Washington University professor

America’s foreign policy moral deficit and losing the Middle East

Politicians the world over claim to support human rights in the conduct of foreign policy. They do so to project “humanitarianism and rightfulness,” but in practice they pay little or no attention to anything but narrow national and personal interests.

Zarif: No intention to aggravate tension with Saudis

TEHRAN – Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday that Iran has no intention to aggravate the already strained relation with Saudi Arabia.

By Dominique Moisi

A China card for the Middle East

The list of crises plaguing the Middle East is growing. In Yemen, a civil war rages amid an uncontrollable cholera epidemic.

Understanding Iranian threat perceptions

A pervasive perception in US policy circles and among US allies is that Iran seeks hegemony in the Middle East. Israel and other regional states often claim that Iran wishes to "revive the Persian Empire." While such claims would be dismissed as farcical by any Iranian official, it is important to note that such sentiment lies at the root of the current standoff between Iran, its regional rivals and the United States.

Iran’s Zarif urges Europe to help resolve Persian Gulf conflicts

TEHRAN – Iranian foreign minister on Monday called on Europe to get involved in Persian Gulf conflicts more seriously, citing the positive role it played in a nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers.

By Micah Zenko

Why is the U.S. killing so many civilians in Syria and Iraq?

Two weeks ago, the American military finally acknowledged what nongovernmental monitoring groups had claimed for months: The United States-led coalition fighting the Islamic State [ISIL] since August 2014 has been killing Iraqi and Syrian civilians at astounding rates in the four months since President Trump assumed office.

By Robert Fisk

Did Trump denounce Qatar as a ‘sponsor of terrorism’ due to failed business deals?

What on earth made President Donald Trump identify Qatar – with its longstanding relationship with the U.S. and host to 10,000 American military personnel on the biggest airbase in the Middle East – as a “funder of terrorism”?

By Mohamad Bazzi

Saudi Arabia stroked Trump's ego. Now he is doing their bidding with Qatar

The Saudis understood from the start that Trump craved flattery and respect. The kingdom’s investment in wooing Trump is paying off

Ambassador: Iran seeking friendly ties with neighbors

TEHRAN – The Iranian ambassador to France has said Tehran always seeks friendly ties with its neighbors.

Trump brings his solo act to Europe

The president has seemed less at ease among his fellow world leaders in group settings than he is in one-on-one encounters. By Tara Palmeri & David Herszenhorn

The sole path to peace lies in U.S. pullout from the region: Iranian general

TEHRAN – The only way to peace in the Middle East is dependent on a pullout of Americans from the region, an Iranian military official said on Sunday in response to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who called for a shift in Tehran’s conduct during President Rouhani’s second term.

‘Tehran welcomes respectful ties with Riyadh’

TEHRAN – A conservative advisor to the Iranian Majlis speaker has said Tehran “welcomes respectful ties with Riyadh,” Mehr reported.

By Bruce Riedel

Trump goes to Riyadh

U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to make Saudi Arabia his first foreign stop on his first trip abroad reflects the importance his administration has given to courting the Saudis.

By Bruce Riedel

Will Riyadh’s new DC ambassador draw U.S. deeper into Yemen war?

Saudi Arabia is pressing the Trump administration to become more involved in supporting its war in Yemen.

He’s growing in office, but he must be wary of outgrowing what got him here

The war for Trump’s ear

There’s an ominous rumble of war in Korea, there’s always an ominous rumble of war in the Middle East, but in Washington we’ve already got the real thing. The combatants are taking no prisoners and the rules of the Geneva Convention do not apply.

Trump’s Syria strike puts America at the precipice of another Middle East war

A week after the Trump administration made the decision to launch a cruise missile strike against Syria’s Shayrat air base, it is no surprise that the attack dangerously increased tensions in the Syrian civil war and emboldened forces that aim to maintain a state of chaos in the country.

By Alastair Sloan

The real reason Theresa May went to Saudi Arabia

British Prime Minister Theresa May is often, and superficially, compared to the late Baroness Margaret Thatcher, who led the country at a time when arms sales to Saudi Arabia were very much in vogue.

By Hossein Askari, Contributor Professor of Business and International Affairs at George Washington University

Trump’s ‘Beautiful’ Deals with Arabs Will Boomerang

President Trump has said time and again that he would bring his deal-making talents, which he claims to be second to none, to his new job as president of the United States.

The battle for Mosul continues

Several reports from the front lines of the battle in Mosul suggest that ISIL is on the back foot.

‘Mideast engaged in resistance vs. non-resistance war’ 

TEHRAN – The Majlis speaker has said that the Middle East region is currently engaged in a war of resistance versus non-resistance, Mehr reported.

By Arne Delfs

Merkel risks tension with Erdogan over Turkish reporter's arrest

Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the arrest of a German reporter in Turkey as excessively harsh, risking tension with President Reccep Tayyip Erdogan as she counts on him to stem refugee flows to Europe.

By Mehdi Sepahvand; Hajiali Sepahvand

Trump trapped in Orientalism, racism, and imperialist system

History is written by the winners and victors. Therefore, they always find an excuse to justify obscene and unjust behavior. Race has been one of the most preliminary concepts for that use, because some races have tapped their unquestionable superiority to justify all their abominable behavior as well as the ineptitude of other races. 

By Paul R. Pillar

Slower may be better in going at ISIL

A couple of tendencies that are all too common in policymaking and policy debate tend to make for unwise foreign commitments or overextended foreign expeditions.