Ceasefire announced:
- An important step towards deescalation
- Reopens Strait of Hormuz, gets marime traffic moving
- Iran's 10 point plan accepted by President Trump
- Deal does not end the war
- Questions over negotiating capacity, motivations and postures remain
President Trump encourages Saudi Arabia to join the #AbrahamAccords. The challenge for Saudi Arabia is to ensure that its interests are not overshadowed by Israel or #Iran, if it were to join the accords. For details, see my chapter on #SaudiIsrael ties: x.com/TheNationalN...
Contributed to AlQaheera News Channel tonight on the US-Israeli strikes against Iran and the regional fallout.
youtube.com/shorts/YlTxT...
Best of ’25, cont.: the new (dis)order, from Iran-Israel to a WMD-free zone, new approach to collapsed states, Saudi hedging, regional corporate elite. With
@thomasjuneau.bsky.social
@banafshkeynoush.bsky.social
@hannesbaumann.bsky.social
@drrmason.bsky.social
& many more
mepc.org/commentaries...
While Trump decides whether to launch a war on Iran, @drrmason.bsky.social focuses on the potential for a new nuclear deal to be a "platform" for the effort to turn the Middle East into a WMD-free zone. But this requires incentives for Israel to cooperate.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
It's been a pleasure to be a Visiting Professor at the University of Helsinki these past 2 weeks. I have engaged with faculty, students and the wider business and policy communities here and look forward to building on these ties in future.
Hot off the press: 'Beyond import dependence: defence industry localisation strategies in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states' with Ali Bakir et al www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
My latest with Umer Karim looks at the Saudi - Pakistan defence deal and Gulf security www.eurasiareview.com/06102025-gul...
3 weeks left to submit an abstract for this workshop on GCC state mediation gulfif.org/app/gss-work...
'As AI transforms warfare and diplomacy, revising the Vienna Convention could provide the legal foundation to counter cyber threats, deepfakes, and digital sovereignty disputes.'
My latest oped for The National Interest Techland:
nationalinterest.org/blog/techlan...
The September 2025 issue of the JASIA [12:3] is now available online. You can access it directly by following this link:
journals.sagepub.com/toc/AIA/curr...
My latest co-authored piece is 'How the Trump-Musk Feud Could Reshape Space Policy and Rein in SpaceX' nationalinterest.org/blog/techlan...
Very good to have presented my paper that reassesses Buzan and Wæver's Regional Security Complex Theory as it relates to the Middle East at #isavirtual2025
Useful analysis of risks associated with Israel and Iran's forward defence strategies en.majalla.com/node/326515/...
“Preliminary intelligence assessments provided to European governments indicate that Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile remains largely intact following US strikes on its main nuclear sites, two officials have said.”
Andrew England & Henry Foy, @financialtimes.com
on.ft.com/4kSoxUW
My latest piece is 'The Splintering of the Resistance Axis'. It argues that groups such as the Houthis are already building alliances with other non-state actors such as Al Shabaab, ensuring its survival and growth should further conflict cut support from Iran. gulfif.org/the-splinter...
Middle East Policy has just published a special issue, The Israel-Iran War, which includes my spring 2025 article, "Negotiating the Impossible? A WMD-Free Zone in the Middle East." It's outside the paywall for at least the next four weeks. @mideastpolicy.bsky.social
Important. "The US military strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities last weekend did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and likely only set it back by months, according to an early US [DIA] intelligence assessment" edition.cnn.com/2025/06/24/p...
My latest article on establishing a nuclear free zone in the Middle East has a fresh lease of life given the evolving facts on the ground in Iran.
www.linkedin.com/posts/robert...
Delighted to see this article is now out: 'From “Relative Autonomy” to “Relational Autonomy”? A Reappraisal of GCC State-Building and Foreign Policy'
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Still free to read in the Spring 2025 Middle East Policy: the Iran-Saudi dilemma in Gaza by @banafshkeynoush.bsky.social, busting Syria myths by Rob Geist Pinfold, Turkey’s ascendance by Saban Kardas, and curbing WMD by @drrmason.bsky.social. Plus many more.
t.co/QbrR4fy6DP
My recent intervention on the US and Eastern Mediterranean Security is available here mecouncil.org/publication_...
In my latest article for ORIENT, I write about 'President Trump’s Return to “Maximum Pressure” Against Iran.'
orient-online.com
All readers can access the news issue of Middle East Policy without charge through May 1! Check out analyses of Syria, Gaza, the US-Saudi deal, and reconciliation in conflict zones by @drrmason.bsky.social, @banafshkeynoush.bsky.social, and many others.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14754967...
This is a work in progress but as it stands offers in broad strokes what negotiations towards a Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone in the Middle East could look like.
Read more here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author...
It's arrived! It's always satisfying to see a new book in print for the first time! Great chapters from co-authors @drrmason.bsky.social and Banafsheh Keynoush as well.
