More than just the latest episode in a familiar cycle, the February 28, U.S.-Israeli airstrikes against Iran are a structural rupture for the Gulf, a moment after which the region’s security assumptions cannot simply be reassembled. Qatar had tirelessly but fruitlessly lobbied against renewed escalation. But within 48 hours of the first strikes, Iran had retaliated across all six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, and Qatar, home to the United States’ largest regional military installation and the world’s foremost liquefied natural gas (LNG) export complex, absorbed strikes that were, by design, both symbolic and structural.

Executive Summary The Doha Global South Health Policy Initiative (DGSHPI) was launched in 2024 by the Middle East Council on Global Affairs (ME Council), in partnership with the Gates Foundation and with the support of the Government of Qatar. This initiative emerged as a response to persistent challenges in many Global South health systems, where… Continue reading Annual Convening 2025 of the Doha Global South Health Policy Initiative

This issue brief examines the domestic impacts of the war with Iran across six dimensions to assess whether the U.S. can sustain a large-scale foreign conflict when the fiscal capacity and public trust required to support it are under severe strain, namely: (I) partisan political polarization, (II) media dynamics and narrative construction, (III) shifts in public opinion, (IV) economic pressures, (V) the escalating cost of defense and national security, and finally (VI) the psychological–strategic dimension and its implications for the future of America’s role in the world.