Will Israel Find Itself Facing Down Iran, Turkey, and the US in Libya?

Israel does not need to be directly engaged in combat to help its allies confront and prevail over mutual adversaries. In Libya, it can play a role in training LNA troops, provide important logistical and intelligence support, and politically influence Washington to cease its backing of the GNA and hostile Islamist militias and state actors.

It’s Time to Reform the World Health Organization

The World Health Organization (WHO) performed exceptionally poorly during the COVID-19 crisis, which was one of the greatest threats to global public health since the organization’s founding in 1946. It is high time that the WHO was reformed from the ground up. President Donald Trump is taking the first steps by threatening to pull all US funding from the organization, which has become beholden to China to such an extent that it either cannot or will not make independent decisions.

Trump’s Dangerous Diplomacy with Erdoğan

America’s reputation as a credible actor is an essential matter for US foreign policy, but it has weakened significantly throughout this century. George Bush’s war on the “axis of evil” failed, and Barack Obama’s “red line” speech proved empty. Today, Donald Trump is abandoning allies and conducting dangerous diplomacy with anti-democratic tyrants.

Was the Iranian Uranium Enrichment Plant at Natanz Sabotaged?

According to the international media, the fingerprints of Israel and the US are all over the recent series of explosions at strategic targets throughout Iran—notably the Natanz uranium enrichment plant, which had been used to assemble advanced centrifuges. The demolition of that site would likely result in a one- to two-year delay in Tehran’s nuclear program.

What Is Driving the “Has-Beens”?

Many are wondering: how have retired leading members of the Israeli defense establishment come to locate themselves on the political left, at times even on the radical left? Having devoted their professional lives to the task of defending the country and carried out the orders of the political echelon, they are now spearheading various “anti” movements.

Trump-Kim-Moon: Back to Square One?

Two years after the summits Kim Jong-un attended with Donald Trump and Moon Jae-in, respectively, the three states are almost back to square one. Initially, there was great optimism that it would be possible to dismantle the North Korean nuclear and missile program and achieve peace among all three parties—but misunderstandings by Washington, Pyongyang, and Seoul of one another’s goals led to the failure of the process.

The China-Iran Deal: A Trial Balloon with a Clear Message

Hobbled by harsh US sanctions and a global economic downturn, Iran has discovered a new weapon: hot air in the form of a cooperation deal with China that carries messages to its opponents. China, albeit far less economically impaired, sees virtue in this arrangement too.

China and Iran Reach a New Stage in Their Strategic Partnership

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Tehran in January 2016 laid the foundations for the Iran-China comprehensive strategic partnership agreement. The two countries are now said to be in the final stages of negotiating an economic and security partnership that has military implications. This would create new and potentially dangerous flashpoints in the balance of power in the Middle East and would contribute to the ongoing deterioration of China-US relations.

The Iran-China 25-Year Plan: A Preliminary Assessment

Ofira Seliktar
July 21, 2020
Paper No. 1653

The newly announced Iran-China 25 Year Comprehensive Partnership is unprecedented in its scope. It contains a “mystery clause” that gives China control over how Iran spends its resources, which could ultimately amount to Iran’s selling its sovereignty to Beijing. The close military collaboration between the countries also has major implications for the decades-long US domination of the Gulf and large stretches of the Indian Ocean.

The Houthi “Khums” Tax at the Center of Iran’s Geopolitical Strategy

Iran has successfully coopted local separatist movements and uprisings in an effort to create a globalized and integrated network of proxies with international reach. The Houthi Hashemite “Khums” tax is the first step toward systematizing the acquisition of lands, property, and natural resources in support of Iran’s geopolitical agenda. It is also intended to resurrect the concept of Hashemite descent for rulers and religious authorities in an effort to displace the Arab governments that stand in the way of the Islamic Republic’s dominion and control over the ultimate prize: Mecca and Medina.

Perspectives Papers