Over the past several years, Iran and Israel have engaged in covert warfare against one another as part of an ongoing low-intensity conflict between the two. To date, the conflict has taken the form of cyberattacks on infrastructure, strikes on oil tankers, UAS attacks, and Israeli-sponsored assassinations of Iranian security and scientific personnel and sabotage of facilities inside Iran| The Soufan Center
In July 2020, Iraq’s new Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi accelerated his efforts to enhance Iraq’s sovereignty and independence through direct engagement with the three powers currently jockeying for influence over Iraq – the United States, Iran, and Saudi Arabia| The Soufan Center
Concerns about wheat shortages and skyrocketing food prices have been growing ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Ukraine, sometimes known as the “breadbasket of the world,” had been a source of over 12% of global wheat exports, but this supply of a basic necessity has been crippled| The Soufan Center
In late June, MBS conducted a regional tour in an attempt to burnish his leadership credentials in advance of U.S. President Biden’s July 16 visit to the Kingdom. MBS visited two key allies, Egypt and Jordan, both of which seek financial support and additional investment from the Kingdom. King Abdullah II| The Soufan Center
A year of dialogue between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and a spring-summer ceasefire in Yemen, raised hopes in the international community that a repeat of past cycles of Iran-related violence in the Persian Gulf region could be avoided| The Soufan Center