With Israel’s waging a preventive war against the Islamic Republic of Iran, and President Donald Trump’s apparently weighing whether to join the fray, it is far from clear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aims will shift from destroying Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic-missile capabilities and toward regime change. Middle East Policy has published a special issue, The Israel-Iran War, which examines the key issues of this conflict: how Israel gained its advantage, the causes of the conflict, how Washington came to take Israel’s side, and the stakes of the nuclear negotiations.
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The Israel-Iran War draws on the journal’s vast archive to provide new analyses of the post-October 7 regional order alongside older articles that probe the key moments that set the stage for a conflict that has been churning since the 1980s. The 14 original articles and four book reviews feature veteran scholars and practitioners like Thomas Juneau, Trita Parsi, Chas W. Freeman Jr., Shibley Telhami, Mark N. Katz, Paul Pillar, and William J. Perry. The full table of contents and links to the articles are below.
The special issue kicks off with Thomas Juneau’s new open-access article contending that Iran’s “annus horribilis” in 2024 has left the Islamic Republic as weak as it has been since the revolution. The analysis, published just before Israel launched its massive air campaign against the nuclear program on June 13, shows that Tehran’s effective loss of proxies like Hezbollah and the tit-for-tat exchanges with Israel last year “humiliatingly illustrated Iran’s relative conventional military inferiority” and created an asymmetry in Netanyahu’s favor. “Both sides understand that Israel could cause even more damage,” Juneau writes, if there were to be another round. With Israel’s ongoing attacks, that next round has arrived.
While there is some speculation that, even at this late stage, Trump is willing to re-enter negotiations with Iran, Juneau stresses that there are several obstacles: Iran does not trust Washington to live up to a deal, and it has been so weakened that Israel may not need direct military help from the Americans.
Still, Juneau says, it is too early to assume that we know where this is going: “The coming years will undoubtedly see aggressive Iranian efforts to claw back its losses.”
Thomas Juneau’s open-access article, “Iran’s Annus Horribilis in 2024: Beaten, but Not Defeated,” anchors The Israel-Iran War, a special issue of Middle East Policy. It is also available as part of an Early View of our forthcoming Summer 2025 issue, which features interviews with victorious Syrians; an explanation of how military reservists in Israel are challenging Netanyahu; deep dives into how middle powers like Saudi Arabia and Turkey are able to balance threats, as well as how the United Arab Emirates can flex its muscles despite US preferences; and much more.
Middle East Policy, The Israel-Iran War—special issue!
THE BREWING CONFLICT
Iran’s Annus Horribilis in 2024: Beaten, but Not Defeated
Thomas Juneau, 2025
The Impact of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Beliefs on Israel’s War against the Axis of Resistance
Emir Hadžikadunić | Marko Ćuže, 2025
Iran’s Ballistic-Missile and Space Program: An Assessment
Gawdat Bahgat, 2019
Iran and Israel: The Avoidable War
Trita Parsi, 2007
Israeli Foreign Policy After the Gulf War
Shibley Telhami, 1992
WASHINGTON TAKES ISRAEL’S SIDE
Conjuring an Enemy: US Discourse and Policy on Iran, 1979–88
Annie Tracy Samuel, 2025
Lessons from America’s Misadventures in the Middle East
Chas W. Freeman, 2015
Iran and America: Is Rapprochement Finally Possible?
Mark N. Katz, 2005
The Strategic Functions of US Aid to Israel
Stephen Zunes, 1996
Gulf Security and US Policy
William J. Perry, 1992
THE NUCLEAR CONFRONTATION
Negotiating the Restoration of the Iran Nuclear Deal
Wyn Rees | Hossein Salimian Rizi, 2024
Negotiating the Impossible? A WMD-Free Zone in the Middle East
Robert Mason, 2025
Israel’s Future and Iran’s Nuclear Program
Leonard Weiss, 2009
Iran and the Arab World: Implications of the Nuclear Negotiations
James N. Miller | Nabeel Khoury | Paul Pillar | Sara Vakhshouri, 2015
BOOK REVIEWS
The World Powers and Iran: Before, During, and After the Nuclear Deal, by Banafsheh Keynoush
Reviewed by Mahmood Monshipouri, 2025
A New U.S. Paradigm for the Middle East: Ending America’s Misguided Policy of Domination, by Paul Pillar, Andrew Bacevich, Annelle Sheline, and Trita Parsi
Reviewed by Ken Weisbrode, 2020
Europe and Iran: The Nuclear Deal and Beyond, by Cornelius Adebahr; Nuclear Multilateralism and Iran: Inside EU Negotiations, by Tarja Cronberg
Reviewed by Naysan Rafati, 2017
Reagan: His Life and Legend, by Max Boot
Reviewed by A.R. Joyce, 2025