Topic:Middle East — Global Security Review %

Archive, Defense & Security, Deterrence & Foreign Policy, Government & Politics, Strategic Adversariesair defense systems, Arabian Sea, asymmetrical warfare, Carrier Battle Group, coastal missiles, coercion, conflict studies, F-35C, fast-attack crafts, global oil consumption, Iran-US conflict, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, maritime domain, Middle East, Military Technology, naval armada, nuclear deterrent, nuclear strategy, Ohio class SSGNs, oil tankers, Patriot air-defense system, regime change, sea control, sea denial, short-range ballistic missiles, Strait of Hormuz, suicide drones, THAAD missile defense systems, Tomahawk cruise missiles, US military assets, USS Abraham Lincoln

CARRIER, CHOKEPOINT, AND COERCION: THE DYNAMICS OF IRAN-US CONFLICT

Ahmad Ibrahim0 Comments

Published: March 9, 2026 (Editor’s Note: This article was submitted before the U.S.-Iran conflict began. We intentionally left the article as “forward looking” to signify the value of the analysis.) …

Archive, Arms Control & Nonproliferation, Strategic Adversariesexternal intervention, industrial base, international politics, Iran, Iraq, Juan Guaido, Libya, Middle East, North Korea, nuclear domino scenario, Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime, nuclear proliferation, Nuclear Weapons, President Maduro, realist school, regime change, Saudi Arabia, security studies, sovereignty, technological knowledge, U.S. intervention, U.S. strikes, Ukraine, Venezuela

Much Ado About Nothing: The Proliferation Debate Post Venezuela

Soumyadeep Bidyanta0 Comments

The morning of January 3rd, 2026, a U.S. Army delta-force team conducted an operation in Caracas, Venezuela, capturing President Maduro and his wife. The operation comes in the wake of…

Allies & Extended Deterrence, Archive, Arms Control & Nonproliferation, Deterrence & Foreign Policy, Strategic Adversariesallies, America First, American power, artificial intelligence, burden shifting, China, Defense Spending, Deterrence, Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, Europe, First Island Chain, global leadership, Indo-Pacific, Japan, Middle East, missile defense, Monroe Doctrine, national security strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Philippines, quantum computing, regional balance, South China Sea, South Korea, United States, Western hemisphere

America’s Managed Retreat: How the 2025 U.S. National Security Strategy Shifts the Burden to Allies

Sidra Shaukat0 Comments

The United States’ 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS) is a document that has been written under the shadow of economic strain and military overreach, and it raises the slogan of…

Allies & Extended Deterrence, Archive, Deterrence & Foreign Policy, Strategic AdversariesAl Udeid Air Base, Arab partners, Center for International Strategic Studies, CISS, collective security, conventional weapons, cybersecurity, defense cooperation, defense industry collaboration, defense production, Deterrence Posture, Doha, drone technology, economic integration, foreign exchange reserves, Gulf States, hamas, India, international law, interoperability, Islamabad, Israeli air raid, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, KSA, Masoud Pezeshkian, Middle East, military alliance, Muslim world, mutual defense pact, Nuclear Deterrence, nuclear umbrella, oil imports, Pakistan, Qatar, regional security, regional security architecture., regional stability, remittances, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, SMDA, space-based defense, strategic autonomy, strategic depth, strategic mutual defense agreement, technology transfer, United Nations General Assembly, United States, Vision 2030

Understanding the Pakistan–Saudi Defense Agreement

Nawal Nawaz0 Comments

Pakistan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) signed a strategic mutual defense agreement (SMDA) on September 17, 2025, cementing a decades-long security partnership between Islamabad and Riyadh. This new…

Archive, Bonus Reads, Defense & Security, Strategic Adversariesactivities, aggression containment, alliance cooperation, allies, American warfighter, burden sharing, China, comparative analysis, counterterrorism, credible deterrence, decision analysis, Defense Spending, deterrence framework, deterrence strategy, DPRK, Energy Security, extended deterrence, global engagement, Gulf States, hamas, homeland defense, Indo-Pacific, industrial base, interests, Iran, Israel, kinetic operations, Middle East, military assets, military strikes, mutual defense treaties, National defense, national defense strategy, National Security, nonproliferation, North Korea, nuclear proliferation, Nuclear Weapons, objectives, Partners, proliferation control, proxy networks, regional deterrence, regional stability, Russia, sanctions, security cooperation, sovereignty, Straits of Hormuz, strategic shifts, threat scenarios, transnational threats, two-front war, U.S. military power, U.S. policy, United States, uranium enrichment

Deterrence of North Korea and Iran: Interests-Objectives-Analysis Framework

Nathan Heath0 Comments

On June 22, the United States struck multiple Iranian nuclear sites, marking a tipping point in its deterrence of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions. It was no longer enough to…

Allies & Extended Deterrence, Archive, Arms Control & Nonproliferation, Defense & Security, Deterrence & Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Emerging Threats, Strategic AdversariesAfghanistan, Arms Control, Atomic, China, cold war, Deterrence, global security, Hezbollah, ICBM, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, Middle East, National Security, Nuclear Deterrence, Nuclear Weapons, Russia, security, Syria, Taliban, Terrorism, Title 22, UN

Deterring Nuclear Terrorism in the Era of Great Power Competition

Alexis Schlotterback0 Comments

As the Cold War ended and new counterterrorism priorities took root in the 2000s, the threat of nuclear terrorism cemented itself as the ultimate catastrophic scenario. Dick Cheney famously stated…

Archive, Strategic AdversariesArrow-2, Arrow-3, ballistic missiles, bombing raid, C4ISR, cyber intelligence, David’s Sling, Deterrence, Donald Trump, electronic warfare, Friedrich Merz, Gulf States, Hezbollah, houthis, Iran, IRGC, Iron Beam, Iron Dome, Israel, maritime security, Middle East, missile defense, Mission Delta 4, nuclear facilities, oil markets, Patriot, regime change, Shia hegemony, SIGINT, situational awareness, Syrian leadership., Terrorism, THAAD, Türkiye, United States, US Space Force

Deterring Iran: The Art of No Deal

Christophe Bosquillon0 Comments

Since its inception, the Iranian regime (1979) has terrorized and subjugated the Middle East and killed far too many Americans. For nearly 50 years, Iran successfully used a combination of…

Archive, Defense & Security, Emerging Threats, Strategic AdversariesAbraham Accords, Africa, air strikes, alliances, allies, belt and road initiative, China, Defense Spending, Democratic Republic of Congo, Deterrence, Donald Trump, Foreign Policy, Gaza, Iran, Middle East, military power, NATO, nuclear facilities, Operation Midnight Hammer, peace deal, peace through strength, peacemaker, primacy, Russia, Rwanda, Todd Clawson, Trump Doctrine, two-state solution, Ukraine, unipolar moment, United States, Washington, world power broker

The Return of the United States Primacy

Todd Clawson0 Comments

The death of the United States’ unipolar moment is exaggerated. Foreign policy experts claiming the United States is on the decline and international relations are headed to multipolarity are less…

Archive, Arms Control & NonproliferationArms Control, arms proliferation, Arms Trade Treaty, arms traffickers. , artificial intelligence, autonomy, conflict resolution, Dinka, ethnic conflict, European Union Programme of Action, Firearms Protocol, identity-based disputes, Kurds, light weapons, Middle East, needs-based approach, Nuer, psychology of guns, regionalism, safety, Small arms, smuggling routes, South Sudan, structural reforms, surveillance, survival, tribal conflict, UNROCA, violence, Wassenaar Arrangement, weapon detection

Proliferation of Small Arms: Impact on Conflict Resolution

Kumail Mehdi0 Comments

Religious, ethnic, and tribal affiliations often fuel identity-based disputes. The current conflict in South Sudan is a prime example. These hostilities are deadly and challenge the ability to live in…

Allies & Extended Deterrence, Archive, Strategic AdversariesArab sovereignty, Arab unity, Bashar al Assad, Captagon trafficking, counterterrorism, defense cooperation, Druze militias, economic leverage, extremist networks, forward defense zone, fragmentation, geopolitical terrain, Geopolitics, Iran, Iranian proxies, Iranian-backed militias, Israel, Israel airstrikes, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, KSA, Middle East, Muslim Brotherhood, northern frontier, power vacuum, reconstruction diplomacy, regional stability, sanctions relief, Saudi Arabia, security policy, Sunni politics, Syria, territorial integrity, transitional government, Turkey, Turkey's military presence, Yemen

Syria and Saudi Arabia’s Northern Front: A New Theatre for the Kingdom’s Security Policy

Mohamed ELDoh1 Comment

In the aftermath of Bashar al-Assad’s fall, Syria has become more than just a war-ravaged state grappling with political vacuum and economic decay—it has transformed into a critical security frontier…

Archive, Arms Control & Nonproliferation, Strategic Adversariesauthoritarian regime, Axis of Resistance, ballistic missiles, diplomatic pressure, domestic repression, economic hardship, hamas, Hezbollah, houthis, international agreements, Iran proxies, Middle East, military strike, nuclear program, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, regional destabilization. , regional influence, sanctions, Shiite Crescent, Shiite ideology, Taqiyya, US-Iran talks

US–Iran Talks: Unlikely to Succeed Absent a Military Strike

Ranj Tofik0 Comments

Indirect US-Iran talks are ongoing, with the first round held in Muscat, the capital of Oman, on April 12. Based on what was announced, the primary focus for the United…