Category: Daniel E. Mouton

How American diplomacy can stabilize Lebanon—and the Middle East

The events of the past two weeks have witnessed an unprecedented degradation of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance. These developments present the Biden administration with more complex policy choices, but also some strategic opportunities. The reason why is because Israel is back at a point where it is not only deterring Iran, but dismantling key

Will Iran’s unprecedented strike on Israel lead to a regional war?

JUST IN The skies lit up over Jerusalem. Overnight, Iran launched more than two hundred drones and missiles, each shuttling its destructive potential through the dark sky toward Israel. Israeli, US, and other allied forces intercepted most of the Iranian blitz, with only minor damage reported on an Israeli military base. But the unprecedented direct

Experts react: Iran just unleashed a major attack on Israel. What’s next?

The war is out of the shadows. Using drones and missiles, Iran unleashed a large-scale attack on Israel tonight. The two countries have long been engaged in a “shadow war,” with Iran using its proxies and Israel undertaking targeted assassinations. Most recently, an Israeli strike in Syria killed several top commanders from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary

Iranian drones have proliferated under US watch

According to senior military officials and independent analysis by the Global Terrorism Trends and Analysis Center (GTTAC), which provides data to the State Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau, most attack unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) used in the world today originate from Iran. Notably, the GTTAC data do not include Iranian drones used by Russia as part of

Will US-UK strikes against the Houthis halt their Red Sea aggression?

JUST IN They’re seeing red. On Thursday, the United States and the United Kingdom carried out air and missile strikes in Yemen after weeks of attacks by the Houthis on shipping vessels in the Red Sea that had disrupted global commerce. Will these strikes deter the Iranian proxy group from further attacks? Will they embroil

The post-October 7 US strategy in the Middle East is coming into focus

What lasting effect have Hamas’s October 7 attacks and Israel’s ongoing response in Gaza had on US strategy in the Middle East? The answer to this question is emerging, and recent days provided two windows into the Biden administration’s approach to the conflict and to Middle East and global security challenges more broadly. Hamas’s expected