On January 12, 2018 US President Donald Trump, for the third time, waived the sanctions on Iran that were lifted in the framework of the JCPOA. The announcement on the decision stressed that over the coming four months, the administration will work with Congress and the JCPOA’s European signatories to “fix” the problems with the agreement. Trump warned that unless agreements are reached within this period of time, the United States will withdraw from the deal. There are therefore two main possibilities: A US-European agreement to...
The details of the long-awaited US Mideast peace plan are deliberately scant, but it appears that a new negotiations paradigm is being formulated that departs from a number of traditional policies pursued by previous administrations. The Trump administration appears focused on initiating comprehensive final status negotiations, and the President’s team seems to be driven more by interest-based policy considerations than by the value-based precepts championed by much of the international community and previous administrations. The...
On December 6, 2017 President Trump announced that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. What followed this controversial announcement in the UN realm was a flurry of initiatives, including a draft resolution submitted to the Security Council by Egypt; a resolution submitted to the General Assembly by Yemen and Turkey; Israel’s withdrawal form UNESCO, and President Trump’s threat to cut funding from UNRWA. In reviewing this sequence of events, two conclusions emerge. First, the UN arena has...
Abstract by Amos Yadlin
In the coming days President Trump is due to decide whether to continue the suspension of sanctions on Iran or reinstate them. Reinstatement of the sanctions would be tantamount to a withdrawal from the nuclear agreement reached in 2015 between Iran and the world powers. In advance of the President’s decision, INSS held a simulation and extensive deliberations on the issue. INSS researchers, who are leading experts in the field, recommend strongly that the United States not withdraw from the nuclear agreement...
Abstract by Amos Yadlin
In the coming days President Trump is due to decide whether to continue the suspension of sanctions on Iran or reinstate them. Reinstatement of the sanctions would be tantamount to a withdrawal from the nuclear agreement reached in 2015 between Iran and the world powers. In advance of the President’s decision, INSS held a simulation and extensive deliberations on the issue. INSS researchers, who are leading experts in the field, recommend strongly that the United States not withdraw from the nuclear agreement...
This article assesses the relations between Israel and the United States against a background of deep and rapid changes in the international system, the Middle East, the domestic politics of the two countries, their government systems, and the situation of their leaders. The article proposes central principles to promote Israeli objectives by strengthening the bilateral relationship.
Seven years after the onset of the upheaval in the Middle East and two years since the implementation of the nuclear deal between the world powers and Iran, the main contours of the region’s emerging reality – including the actors, rivalries, partnerships, front lines, power relations, and behavior of the major powers – are becoming clear. Now, after nearly one full year at the Washington helm, the nature of the Trump administration and its influence on the domestic arena, the Middle East, and the global stage are also coming into...
As 2017 draws to a close, the Middle East is witnessing the convergence of several important developments that will potentially have a broad impact on Israeli national security. The civil war in Syria is subsiding through a process dominated by Russia, Iran, and Turkey – which poses the danger that Israel’s interests will not be taken into account in the deliberations and steps toward an agreement to stabilize the arena. The jihadist territorial Islamic State established in Iraq and Syria has been obliterated, although the underlying...
On December 18, 2017, President Donald Trump presented the latest United States National Security Strategy. The document defines the administration’s world view on national security, and sketches the main principles that are intended to guide its approach. Regarding the Middle East, the National Security Strategy stresses that the United States does not intend to withdraw from the Middle East or limit its presence in the region, and highlights three central threats: the entrenchment of terror organizations and the export of terror to...
The historic announcement on December 6, 2017 that the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel evoked both expressions of support and waves of protest. However, it seemed that many did not understand the full significance of what President Trump described as the “recognition of reality,” as he stated explicitly that the American position on the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty had not changed, and said indirectly that American recognition of Jerusalem’s status as Israel’s “capital”...
The first year of the Trump administration has been characterized by the lack of clear policy guidelines vis-à-vis the Middle East. Although in the election campaign Trump spoke in favor of limiting United States intervention in various arenas, it appears that the US administration has no choice but to continue in the role of the “world’s policeman” to protect American interests. As to the Middle East, the United States cannot allow itself to disengage from the region. Accordingly, the administration must formulate...
President Trump’s visit to East Asia in early November 2017 earned conflicting grades, mainly in the United States. Did Trump achieve his objective of strengthening the alliance between the United States and its friends in East Asia, and sending a message of a continued American commitment? It appears that the leaders of countries considered allies of the US have come to terms with China’s growing power in the region, and the determined American declarations about commitment to the friends in Asia may have not persuaded...
