Region Related Event Feeds

Gulf Kaleidoscope: Reflections on the Iranian Challenge

ian — Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

As the world works to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, there is widespread agreement on what failure looks like.

The Emerging Anti-Access/Area-Denial Challenge

sherry — Thu, 17 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Emerging challenges to U.S. regional access and freedom of action have generated a great deal of conceptual debate over the past year. While access challenges transcend military threats, the Department of Defense (DoD) plays a unique role defending U.S. interests in the face of them.

Rethinking Our Approach to Iran's Search for the Bomb

sherry — Mon, 07 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

We badly need to rethink our approach to Iran’s nuclear programs. We are putting far too much emphasis on Iran’s nuclear efforts without considering how these programs fit into Iran’s over military and strategic objectives. At the same time, we are placing too much emphasis on whether Iran has revived its formal nuclear program and the current shape of its nuclear facilities.

Homegrown Terrorism

jdunton — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Incidents of “homegrown terrorism”—extremist violence perpetrated by U.S. citizens or legal U.S.

U.S. and Iranian Strategic Competition: The Sanctions game: Energy, Arms Control, and Regime Change

ian — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Tightening sanctions and Iran’s reactions have become a race against time. Every day brings a new event as the competition between the US and Iran plays out on a global level. The Burke Chair at CSIS is issuing a new report that puts this competition in a broader perspective, as part of its on-going series on US and Iranian strategic competition.

Options for Dealing with Iran's Nuclear Program

ian — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

The growing confrontation with Iran over its nuclear, missiles, and asymmetric warfare programs presents major problems in risk assessment. The Burke Chair is circulating a briefing that uses a new method of risk assessment developed by Dr. Abdullah Toukan, a visiting fellow at CSIS and noted regional expert of military matters and arms control.

2012 Global Forecast

ian — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

U.S. AND IRANIAN STRATEGIC COMPETITION: The Impact of Latin America, Africa and Peripheral States

ian — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

US competition with Iran has become the equivalent of a game of three-dimensional chess, but a game where each side can modify at least some of the rules with each move.

Middle East Notes and Comment: The Iran Problem

dholodnik — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400

As the world works to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, there is widespread agreement on what failure looks like: an Iranian bomb—or more likely, a number of Iranian bombs—that emboldens the Iranian government, threatens the Middle East and prompts many of Iran’s neighbors to develop their own weapons, destabilizing the most energy-rich part of the world.

DIIG Current Issues No. 28: Defense Industrial Policy the Iranian Way

rlivergood — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400

In February 2012, the Islamic Republic of Iran celebrated the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution with the unveiling of new defense acquisition programs and the launch of a spy satellite.

TWQ: To Keep the Peace with Iran, Threaten to Strike - Spring 2012

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400

While Iran’s nuclear program has been on America’s foreign policy agenda for the last twenty-plus years, one gets the unmistakable feeling that the issue is finally coming to a head.

US and Iranian Strategic Competition In Sanctions, Energy, Arms Control, and Arms Transfers

sherry — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Iran’s Influence in the Americas

jdunton — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Through trade, assistance, and bilateral cooperation, the nations of the Americas are more globally connected than ever before. Not just to former colonial powers, but to such faraway places as Afghanistan, China, India, Russia, and Singapore. In 2007, Colombian police were training Afghan counterparts.

The Real Outcome of the Iraq War: US and Iranian Strategic Competition in Iraq

ian — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Events in Iraq since the US withdrawal have made it all too clear that the US celebrated the end of the Iraq War without any realism as to the impact the war and US occupation had on Iraqi society. Iraq remains a violent and unstable place, with Iranian influence on the rise. The political, economic, and security situation in Iraq, as well as the US and Iranian competition in the co

Iran and the Gulf Military Balance II: The Missile and Nuclear Dimensions

sherry — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0500

The military competition between Iran and the US, the Southern Gulf states, and Israel has already triggered a de facto nuclear arms race in the region, and has produced a growing confrontation over Iran’s missile programs and nuclear efforts.

Iran and the Gulf Military Balance I: The Conventional and Asymmetric Dimensions

sherry — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0500

The Burke Chair at CSIS has greatly updated and expanded its analysis of Iranian military forces to reflect recent events, as well as comments on the previous draft.

Iran: The Waiting Option

sherry — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0500

We may have to use force against Iran. It may provoke clashes or a conflict in the Gulf, or it may refuse any realistic diplomatic solution to its growing capabilities to produce nuclear weapons.

U.S. and Iranian Strategic Competition: The Impact of the EU, EU3, and Non-EU European States

sherry — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0500

The various states that comprise the EU and non-EU Europe play a critical role in the competition between the US and Iran. Iran’s progress towards a nuclear weapons threshold capability, and evidence that it may be seeking to deploy nuclear armed missiles has led to enhanced policy coordination between leaders in the US and Europe.

U.S. And Iranian Strategic Competition: The Role Of The Southern Gulf States And Yemen

sherry — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

The Gulf is the strategic center of the competition between the US and Iran. The stability of the Gulf is critical to the global economy, as roughly 40 percent of the world’s oil and product trade is exported from the Gulf. Most of this goes through the Strait of Hormuz, which at its narrowest point is just 21 miles wide.

Iran's Influence in the Americas

jdunton — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Tit for Tat: Dealing with Iran

sherry — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

A few weeks ago, I wrote “With Republican candidates debating and issuing policy statements, one might be led to believe there is currently no foreign policy concern more threatening to the United States than a nuclear Iran. With the exception of Ron Paul, the candidates seem to indicate that our military should be poised to attack Iran.”

U.S. and Iranian Strategic Competition: The Impact of China and Russia

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

US competition with Iran has become the equivalent of a game of three-dimensional chess, but a game where each side can modify at least some of the rules with each move.

Iran Sanctions and Oil Market Implications

kate — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Q: With tensions escalating between Iran and the West as both the United States and Europe prepare to impose additional sanctions, Iranian threats to close the Strait of Hormuz have driven up oil prices and sent purchasers scurrying to find replacement barrels. What is the likelihood of Iran following through on the threat, and what are the implications for the oil market?

Critical Issues for 2012

sherry — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Ahmadinejad in the Americas: Part 2

sherry — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s trip to Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Ecuador got off to an uncertain start Sunday, with no word whether he would add a fifth stop in order to attend the inauguration of Guatemalan president-elect Otto Pérez Molina on January 14.

Critical Questions for 2012

ian — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

From international security and regional study to global challenges, CSIS experts will address many of the world's most difficult policy concerns and critical questions in 2012. To kick off the new year, we asked 25 of our scholars to identity what worries them most and what are the biggest opportunities in their respective areas of study.

Ahmadinejad in the Americas—What Is Iran Up To?

sherry — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Without leaving Tehran, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s upcoming tour of Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Ecuador has already been successful at feeding fears of a minor Persian invasion. This will make a half-dozen trips he has made to the region since he was initially elected in 2005. (George W.

TWQ: Iran’s Declining Influence in Iraq

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

With the 2003 collapse of the Ba‘athist regime and the ascendency of Iraq’s Shi‘a majority in the country’s economic and political life, Iran and Iraq now seem at their most amicable since the 1955 Baghdad Pact when they signed treaties for greater cooperation and aligned against separatist movements as well as the Soviet threat.

Iran and the Threat to "Close" the Gulf

sherry — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

There is nothing new about Iran’s threat to close the Gulf, but it does need to be put in context. Iran is reshaping its military forces to steadily increase the threat to Gulf shipping and shipping in the Gulf of Oman, It also is gradually increasing its ability to operate in the Indian Ocean.

Iran and the Gulf Military Balance

ian — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

This report has been extensively updated in the wake of the IAEA’s November 8, 2011 report which provides the most detailed indicators that Iran is taking steps toward producing nuclear weapons.

The Outcome of Invasion: US and Iranian Strategic Competition in Iraq

sherry — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Iraq has become a key focus of the strategic competition between the United States and Iran. The history of this competition has been shaped by the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), the 1991 Gulf War, and the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Since the 2003 war, both the US and Iran have competed to shape the structure of Post-Saddam Iraq’s politics, governance, economics, and security.

US and Iranian Strategic Competition in the Gulf States and Yemen

sherry — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

US competition with Iran has become the equivalent of a game of three-dimensional chess, but a game where each side can modify at least some of the rules with each move.

The New IAEA Report and Iran’s Evolving Nuclear and Missile Forces

ian — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Iran’s potential acquisition of nuclear weapons and the ability to arm its missiles and aircraft with such weapons represents the most serious risk that shapes US, Arab, Israeli and other international perceptions.

Iran's Nuclear Program

sherry — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

On November 8, 2011, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released its latest report on Iran written for the upcoming Board of Governors meeting in late November in Vienna, Austria.

U.S. and Iranian Strategic Competition: The Gulf Military Balance

ian — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0400

US competition with Iran has become the equivalent of a game of three-dimensional chess, but a game where each side can modify at least some of the rules with each move.

Iran and the Gulf Military Balance

sherry — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

U.S. and Iranian Strategic Competition: The Proxy Cold War in the Levant, Egypt and Jordan

sherry — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

US competition with Iran has become the equivalent of a game of three-dimensional chess, but a game where each side can modify at least some of the rules with each move.

Iran Delivers a Wake-up Call

sherry — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Last week, the Obama administration revealed that it had caught an Iranian-American used car salesman conspiring to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States and possibly carry out attacks on Saudi and Israeli diplomats in Argentina. At first glance, the plot did not jibe with familiar patterns of Iranian behavior.

Iran’s Accelerating Military Competition with the US and Arab States – Chemical, Biological, and Nuclear Capabilities

ian — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Iran’s foiled assassination plot against Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US, Adel al-Jubeir, raises questions about Iran’s judgment and which elements within the regime are in control of the country’s decision-making process. If successful, such an act could have lead the country into diplomatic isolation or war.

US Strategic Competition with Iran: The Assassination Plot

ian — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

US competition with Iran has long been the equivalent of a game of three-dimensional chess, but game where each side can modify at least some of the rules with each move. Iran may now have radically changed the rules if Iran’s senior leadership can be tied to the involvement of members of the Al-Quds Force in a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the US.

U.S. and Iranian Strategic Competition: The Sanctions game: Energy, Arms Control, and Regime Change

sherry — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

US competition with Iran has become the equivalent of a game of three-dimensional chess, but a game where each side can modify at least some of the rules with each move.

TWQ: Doubling Down on Iran - Fall 2011

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Since taking office in 2009, the Obama administration has patiently pursued a two-track policy which seeks to persuade the Iranian leadership to give up its nuclear weapons ambitions by creating a series of reinforcing positive and negative incentives.

US and Iranian Strategic Competition: Competition in Iraq

sherry — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

US competition with Iran has become the equivalent of a game of three-dimensional chess, but a game where each side can modify at least some of the rules with each move.

U.S. and Iranian Strategic Competition: Competition Involving the EU, EU3, and non-EU European States

sherry — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

US competition with Iran has become the equivalent of a game of three-dimensional chess, but a game where each side can modify at least some of the rules with each move.

Competition in Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Pakistan

ian — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

US competition with Iran has become the equivalent of a game of three-dimensional chess, but a game where each side can modify at least some of the rules with each move.

Middle East Notes and Comment: The Turkey Connection

dholodnik — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Saudi Arabia has a problem. Its decades-long alliances with Iraq and Egypt have been sundered, and its faith in U.S. leadership is at its lowest point in memory. Its regional threats have grown, not only from Iranians directly across the Gulf, but from the actions of Iranian proxies in Lebanon, Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East that endanger Saudi allies.

U.S. and Iranian Strategic Competition

ian — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0400

US competition with Iran has become the equivalent of a game of three-dimensional chess, but a game where each side can modify at least some of the rules with each move.

The United States and Iran: Competition involving Turkey and the South Caucasus

sherry — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0400

US competition with Iran has become the equivalent of a game of three-dimensional chess, but game where each side can modify at least some of the rules with each move.

Iraq in Transition: Governance, Politics, Economics, and Petroleum

sherry — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The war in Iraq remains a critical aspect of US national security, and involves more vital US strategic interests than the conflict in Afghanistan. Estimates by the Energy Information Agency of the Department of Energy indicate that the US and global economy will not reduces their strategic dependence on the Gulf petroleum exports through 2035, and Iraq’s future alignments with

Iran’s Accelerating Military Competition with the US and Arab States – Part One

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Iran’s Accelerating Military Competition with the US and Arab States – Part One