Middle East Policy announces its Fall 2025 journal, analyzing dehumanization in Gaza; the June 2025 Israel-Iran war and the setbacks to international diplomacy; conflict and cooperation in regional economics; and the effects of crises in Lebanon and Syria on a range of actors, from Russia to Arab nationalists to medical professionals. Five of the original articles in the 165th issue of our catalog are free to read, even for those of you without a subscription.
Readers can still find our special issue, The October 7 Emergencies, which analyzes the regional conflagration and explores the long road to the ceasefire and the 20-point plan for reconstruction. If you find this newsletter useful, please forward to others you believe will benefit, and please follow us on the social media sites X, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.
The fall issue leads with Yagil Levy’s open-access interrogation of the affliction driving the war in Gaza: “the dehumanization of disregard.” This has not simply affected the post-October 7 campaign but has been endemic to the state’s assumptions about Arabs since its founding:
Israeli attitudes toward the Gazan population reflect a passive form of dehumanization, characterized by indifference and neglect. This form of dehumanization, which refuses to acknowledge the population, effectively overlooks Gazans’ ability to make a difference by challenging the indirect Israeli control over them and their territory.
From there, we cover how Iran is dealing with the June war and its own domestic discontent. Ali Bagheri Dolatabadi synthesizes the latest reports from inside the country, supplemented by his own interviews with Iranian officials, to assess the damage to nuclear capabilities and what Tehran has learned. “Officials are acutely aware of the military asymmetry between Iran and Israel, recognizing weaknesses in the air force, limited access to satellite intelligence, outdated and unsophisticated equipment, and the absence of a powerful strategic ally,” he writes. “Consequently, they aim to respond to Israeli military actions with precision, calculation, and restraint.” This article is free to read for a limited time.
In her open-access analysis of nuclear talks after the June war, Banafsheh Keynoush examines Iran’s demands in the early stages of revived negotiations, as well as the European moves to ratchet up pressure on Tehran. It then probes the history of the nuclear crisis to determine lessons that should inform future talks. “Washington and Tehran could return to negotiations and even achieve mutual compromise, such as limiting Iran’s enrichment capacity in exchange for relief of sanctions on Iranian defense programs, the rebuilding of homeland defenses, and the development of an advanced civilian nuclear capacity,” she writes. “However, the Trump administration’s continued narrative of dominating the outcome of a nuclear deal, and the Iranian elite’s consensus over unlimited enrichment and breaking US hegemony, are major obstacles.”
As for the legacy of the Woman, Life, Freedom protests, Rauf Rahimi and Sajjad Rezaei discuss with Iranians the sources of their discontent and how they view “violations of privacy and repression of rights.”
The fall journal includes two other open-access pieces: Hannes Baumann and Alice Hooper trace a pan-Arab corporate elite through the network of transnational interlocking directorships; and Namig Abbasov and Emil A. Souleimanov’s examine of how the new regime in Syria signals the marginalization of Russia in regional geopolitics.
Finally, we explore how trade, war, and social collapse are creating crises and opportunities in the region. Gawdat Bahgat finds hope for a softening of conflicts through interdependence stemming from major natural gas discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean. However, Arash Reisinezhad and Arsham Reisinezhad see the region’s sometimes intersecting economic corridors—from China’s Belt and Road Initiative to the Development Road and the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor—as potentially sparking conflicts due to “competition over strategic control of these routes.”
The issue finishes with two pieces drawing on interviews with everyday people in the region: Arab nationalists who volunteered to defend the Assad regime against the threat from Islamists, and medical professionals in Lebanon dealing with the economic crisis.
Dehumanization of Disregard: The Case of Gaza
Yagil Levy—open access!
THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC’S HOMELAND CONFLICTS
The June 2025 Israeli War: Iran’s Assessment and Regional Consequences
Ali Bagheri Dolatabadi—free to read!
The Perils of Nuclear Talks after the US-Israel War on Iran
Banafsheh Keynoush—open access!
The 2022 Iran Protests: The View from the Streets
Rauf Rahimi | Sajjad Rezaei
EFFECTS OF REGIONAL TRADE AND ECONOMICS
Arab-Israeli Gas Diplomacy: Interdependence and a Path Toward Peace?
Gawdat Bahgat
The Development and Political Effects of a Pan-Arab Corporate Elite
Hannes Baumann | Alice Hooper—open access!
The Corridor War in the Middle East
Arash Reisinezhad | Arsham Reisinezhad
FALLOUT FROM SYRIAN AND LEBANESE CRISES
After Assad: How Russia Is Losing the Middle East
Namig Abbasov | Emil A. Souleimanov—open access!
Forgotten Fighters in Their Own Words: Pan-Arab Volunteers in Syria-Iraq
Djallil Lounnas | Israa Mezzyane
The Factors Driving Lebanon’s Medical Brain Drain
Mohamad Zreik | Houssein Mallah | Mohamad Mokdad
BOOK REVIEWS
Javad Heiran-Nia, Iran and the Security Order in the Persian Gulf
Reviewed by Mahmood Monshipouri
Rob Geist Pinfold, Understanding Territorial Withdrawal: Israeli Occupations and Exits
Reviewed by Nathaniel Shils
Steffen Hertog, Locked Out of Development: Insiders and Outsiders in Arab Capitalism
Reviewed by Ahalla Tsauro
Gilbert Achcar, Gaza Catastrophe: The Genocide in World-Historical Perspective; and Erik Skare, Road to October 7: A Brief History of Palestinian Islamism
Reviewed by A.R. Joyce