Publications

Introduction The joint U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran that began on February 28, 2026, has triggered one of the Gulf’s most dangerous crises in decades. For energy-importing countries in Asia, the conflict is not a distant war; it is a direct threat to their security. East Asian powers import roughly 60% of their oil from the… Continue reading Asia and the Iran Conflict: Energy Vulnerability and the Imperative for Action

A policy analysis exploring how the U.S.–Israel–Iran war is redefining Gulf neutrality, deterrence strategies, and regional security architecture.

The Lebanon front has become a central battlefield in a wider regional war, raising risks of state collapse, regional escalation, and threats to Gulf security.

ME Council analysis examining the effectiveness of pooled humanitarian financing in conflict zones, using the Sudan Humanitarian Fund as a key case study.

ME Council expert analysis on Saudi-Iran rapprochement, the GCC’s response to the June 2025 war, and Tehran’s push for strategic de-escalation.

This volume brings together leading regional experts and policymakers from the Middle East and the Horn of Africa to provide the first integrated analysis of Red Sea geopolitics. Combining security, economic, and socio-political perspectives, the contributors offer forward-looking, policy-relevant insights into one of the world’s most strategically contested corridors.

This policy note argues that the Gulf’s bid to recast hydrocarbons as engines of climate-linked industrial growth will falter without a regionally harmonized, legally enforceable climate governance framework.

Post-Assad Syria has pursued improvised DDR-style security measures. This policy note argues that only a nationally anchored DDR strategy can sustain stabilization

Abstract The Gulf states’ trade relations are in transition. While making progress on diversifying their economies, they continue to seek a balance between hydrocarbon exports and post-oil industries, as well as between Western and Eastern trading partners. Meanwhile, they remain exposed to oil price volatility, the retreat of globalization, and frequent global and regional supply-chain… Continue reading The GCC’s Evolving Trade Networks: Navigating Fragmentation and Diversification

China–Gulf renewable energy cooperation is evolving from hydrocarbon dependency to strategic interdependence, reshaping energy security, industrial policy, and global decarbonization pathways.

Yemen, Libya, and Sudan are all in the grip of armed conflicts that have led to the collapse of state institutions and the fragmentation of central authorities among multiple, externally supported actors. Over the past decade, international efforts have proven insufficient, on their own, to resolve these protracted conflicts and achieve comprehensive peace in these countries. This has brought to the fore local mediation mechanisms, which show potential as key ways to manage and resolve domestic conflicts at the grassroots level. In environments characterized by protracted conflict, the proliferation of armed forces, and the fragmentation of the ruling system, local mediation can complement or provide an effective alternative to international and national efforts, which often find it hard to address the root causes of conflict in a way acceptable to all sides.

Iran is facing intensifying pressures on the international stage. In June of 2025, Israel and the United States launched a military assault on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, even as talks on the program were underway between Tehran and Washington.