Chatham House Middle East and North Africa Programme

18/06/2026

'Football did not require perfect harmony among players or a well-run association to produce national unity – simply a shared goal and the suspension, however temporary, of the corrupt and sectarian logic that divides Iraqi politics. If football can achieve this, the question now emerging for Iraq's political elite is why they cannot.'

In a new article for the Iraq Initiative, Abdulla Al-Kalisy examines what football reveals about state-society relations in Iraq.

Read on Kalam: https://kalam.chathamhouse.org/articles/victory-amid-war-what-iraqi-football-reveals-about-state-citizen-relations/

18/06/2026

اجتماع المبعوث الأميركي توم باراك مع رئيس الوزراء العراقي الزيدي شدّد على أن دمج ونزع سلاح الجماعات المسلحة يُعدّ أولوية رئيسية في العلاقات الثنائية بين الولايات المتحدة والعراق. وعلى الرغم من تعهّد الحكومات العراقية المتعاقبة بإحراز تقدم، ظلّ التنفيذ بعيد المنال.
في هذا المقال، يجادل ريناد منصور بأن اللحظة السياسية الراهنة قد تفتح نافذة لتحقيق تقدم، ويشرح ما هي العقبات التي سيتعين على الحكومة الجديدة تجاوزها لفرض سلطة فعّالة على الجماعات المسلحة:https://ow.ly/9t8L50ZcQ3R

17/06/2026

US envoy Tom Barrack's meeting with Iraq's PM al-Zaidi stressed that the integration and disarmament of armed groups is a key priroity for the US-Iraq bilateral relationship. While successive Iraqi governments have pledged progress, implementation has remained elusive.

In a new Expert Comment, Renad Mansour argues that the current political moment could open a window for progress, and explains what obstacles the new government will need to navigate to establish meaningful authority over armed groups: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2026/06/can-iraqs-new-prime-minister-finally-rein-its-armed-factions

16/06/2026

Iran is facing immense sanctions. Yet, they’re able to develop their own national defense infrastructure. Gulf countries need to take more responsibility for their own security by building out their armies and developing defense technologies, says Bader al-Saif via The New York Times.

Iran targeted Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and other American allies in the Middle East during the war, harming their economies and military sectors.

15/06/2026

'There is a very short window – 60 days to continue the negotiations...This is a unique opportunity to try and finalize a nuclear agreement with Iran that the G7 should support'.

Sanam Vakil joins CNN's Wolf Blitzer to analyse the US-Iran MoU, the obstacles that could derail it, and what comes next for diplomacy between Washington and Tehran.

15/06/2026

'The U.S. security guarantee is no longer reliable in the way [Gulf states] thought it was. The war will likely accelerate the push to diversify', says Sanam Vakil via New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/15/world/middleeast/gulf-iran-war-us.html

11/06/2026

A deal on the Strait will eventually emerge, but whatever the details, dynamics in the Persian Gulf have changed – and will not return to the pre-28 February 2026 status quo.

Thomas Juneau discusses how Iran will navigate the new equilibrium in the Persian Gulf.

https://www.chathamhouse.org/2026/06/iran-and-new-persian-gulf-equilibrium?utm_medium=organic-social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=menap

11/06/2026

🎥 Webinar recording: Is the Middle East splitting into rival blocs?

Hasan Alhasan, Dina Esfandiary, Yasmine Farouk, Firas Maksad and Sanam Vakil discuss how the Iran war is reshaping rivalries across the Middle East.

Discover how the Iran war is reshaping rivalries across the Middle ...

11/06/2026

Writing for the Financial Times, Sanam Vakil discusses three new books that explore the relationship between the Iranian state and its people. Together, they show how Iran’s modern tragedy is the repeated refusal of the state to acknowledge the society it seeks to command.

https://www.ft.com/content/ff158006-5faa-4cc5-a4b5-c378ca580b0b

Three new books, from a sweeping history to narrower and more personal accounts, explore the fractious relationship between the state and its people

10/06/2026

'The U.S. wants to get everything and not give too much at the beginning, and the Iranians want to get things at the beginning and give things along the way,' says Sanam Vakil, speaking to The New York Times about the US-Iran talks.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/09/world/middleeast/us-iran-talks-war.html