Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s humiliating episode at Egypt’s Al-Azhar University – which came during a recent Cairo visit and saw the Iranian leader publicly upbraided by Sunni figures – may have been symptomatic of structural barriers blocking a restoration of Egyptian-Iranian ties. The two countries have been at odds since...

Egypt is sending a security delegation to Israel this week to discuss a range of security issues including the ongoing implementation of the Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas that ended last November’s Operation Pillar of Defense. The Israeli campaign came after weeks of escalatory rocket and missile fire by Hamas-led...

United Nations human rights officials are urging the U.N. Security Council to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court, citing documented atrocities committed by forces loyal to the Bashar al-Assad regime during the country’s two-year-long conflict. Most plausible scenarios for prosecution of Syrian officials would require a referral by the United...

Both incoming Secretary of State John Kerry and CIA chief nominee John Brennan have in recent months called on the European Union to formally designate the Iran-backed group Hezbollah as a terror organization. Daniel Benjamin, who until recently was the U.S. State Department’s Coordinator for Counterterrorism, has said that the...

Russian expressions of continued support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad have analysts and diplomats worried that Moscow’s policies may undermine a new Western push, outlined this week by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, to end Syria’s two-year conflict. The Syrian war – a proxy war between the Iran-backed regime, Sunni-backed...

The Gulf Cooperation Council has announced a “total rejection” of what GCC head Abdellatif Zayani is describing as another Iranian attempt at “interference in the internal affairs of Arab states.” The criticism comes in response to a proposal made by Iran’s Deputy Minister for Asian Affairs Abbas Araghchi, conveyed through Iranian media, proposing...

The Syrian war is producing a new generation of hardened jihadists who may pose a serious threat to Europe, according to comments made by British Foreign Secretary William Hague in a speech outlining the U.K.’s counter-terrorism strategy. Hague suggested that Syria has become the “number one destination” in the world for...

Iran has begun to install advanced IR-2m centrifuges in the country’s Natanz facility, after declaring its intention to do so weeks ago. The technology is an upgrade from the current generation of centrifuges that the Islamic republic employs in the facility and will increase the pace and efficiency of nuclear enrichment...

Egypt has seized two tons of explosives headed toward the Sinai Peninsula just days after military forces began flooding tunnels that connect the strategic area and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The operation will deepen concerns over the extent to which smuggling remains prevalent on the Peninsula. Israel and Arabic analysts have expressed concerns that...

A Hamas delegation to Bulgaria has been expelled for posing a “serious threat for national security,” according to Bulgarian security officials. The delegation had been in the country for less than two days, having been invited by Bulgaria’s Center for Global and Middle East Studies. The center’s head, Mohammed Abu Assi,...