Arab Center Washington DC

📄 The Islamabad Memorandum may have halted the - war, but it has left the nuclear dispute unresolved. Sina Azodi argues that Iran’s enrichment program and stockpile remain central sources of leverage, making the next 60 days critical to whether the ceasefire becomes a durable settlement or just a pause before renewed conflict.
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Iran’s Nuclear Leverage Survives the War When President Donald Trump, in close partnership with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, attacked Iran on February 28, 2026, he anticipated the total capitulation of the Islamic Republic. Although the opening phase of the campaign inflicted significant damage on Iran’s military and nuclear infras...

📄 The Unit for Political Studies argues that the - MOU gives temporary relief from war but fails to resolve the kingdom's security concerns. must now manage the risks of Iranian recovery, uncertain commitments, and reconstruction funding demands amid renewed pressure for normalization with .
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Limiting the Damage: Saudi Arabia and the Islamabad Memorandum The war affected Saudi Arabia and further complicated its economic diversification plans, which were already facing setbacks. Iranian missiles and drones hit sites inside the kingdom, among them military facilities and energy installations. The Saudi Ministry of Defense announced it had intercepted....

📄 Saher Ghazawi argues that Israeli academia and think tanks help legitimize colonial violence by translating it into the technical language of security, deterrence, and conflict management. Ghazawi demonstrates that this discourse marginalizes Palestinian political experience while narrowing the boundaries of acceptable academic knowledge.
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Israel’s Academia Deepens Colonial Control After the Gaza War This paper investigates Israeli academia in the post-Gaza war era (2023–25) as a structural actor involved in the production of a security-military discourse that reframes colonial violence and gives it epistemological legitimacy. The paper argues that universities and research centers in Israel a...

Ingie Gohar reports on congressional action on , , , and the Eastern Mediterranean, alongside new military sales, strikes, and -related sanctions. She also tracks the administration’s efforts to manage the ceasefire while pressing toward negotiations with .
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Washington Policy Weekly: The United States and Iran Sign the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding I. Legislative Branch 1) Legislation House Bill Would Bolster Defense Cooperation with Abraham Accords Countries. On June 15, Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) introduced H.R.9322, which would require the Secretary of Defense to establish an initiative to strengthen defense cooperation with Abraham Accords....

Join Arab Center Washington DC and the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy for a webinar to explore how the conflict is affecting global energy supplies and prices, which regions are most vulnerable to the disruption, and what the crisis could mean for the global economy and energy markets in both the short and long term. Featuring Jim Krane, Manal Shehabi, and Gregory B. Upton, and moderated by Khalil E. Jahshan.
📅 Tuesday, June 23, 2026 | ⏰ 10:00 AM–11:30 AM ET | 💻 Via Zoom
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https://arabcenterdc.org/event/the-impacts-of-the-iran-war-on-the-global-economy-and-energy-markets/

📄 Rola El-Husseini argues that the - interim ceasefire deal exposes rather than resolves ’s sovereignty crisis, since it treats Lebanese territory as a bargaining space between external powers. ’s destruction of land, homes, and cultural memory in South deepens this crisis by undermining the foundations of state sovereignty.
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What Does the US-Iran Deal Mean for Lebanese Sovereignty? Lebanon has never possessed genuine sovereignty, and this chronic deficit of internal and external control renders it a permanent arena for proxy warfare.

📄 Daniel Brumberg, Yousef Munayyer, Khalil Jahshan, Patricia Karam, and Kristian Coates Ulrichsen examine the Islamabad MoU, arguing that the - interim ceasefire offers a temporary diplomatic reprieve while leaving core disputes unresolved. The contributors assess the MoU’s implications for domestic politics, ’s political survival, ’s sovereignty, and security, warning that the agreement could reduce immediate escalation while preserving the structural conditions for renewed regional conflict.
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The US-Iran Interim Deal: A Fragile Ceasefire The “Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran,” signed in Versailles, France, on June 17, 2026, is designed to halt the hostilities between the two countries that began on February 28 this year. The MoU aims to extend the ceasefi...

📄 Giorgio Cafiero examines whether -Sadr’s decision to place his militia under state authority marks a real step toward Iraqi sovereignty. He argues that disarmament will remain largely symbolic unless ’s institutions can impose genuine command over -linked militias.
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Sadr, the Militias, and Iraq’s Struggle for Sovereignty Iraq could be at a turning point following Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s May 27, 2026, decision to place his armed faction, Saraya al-Salam (the Peace Brigades), under the state’s authority. He also called on the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF)—an umbrella organization that includes between ...