Mohammed al-Rumaihi

The publishers of Al-Qafilah, a long-established cultural magazine issued by Aramco, have been sending me its quarterly issues for years. At a time when some Arab cultural magazines have lost their distinguished standing, having lost the capacity to keep pace with developments, Al-Qafilah has gone…

He said to his companion, as the two of them watched the Middle East unfold on the screen: I have a feeling the Iranian project in the region has entered a phase of decline — and perhaps the retreat is no longer gradual, as it was, but closer to a rupture. His companion asked: and your evidence?…

A message has been sent through the Saudi-Turkish-Pakistani trilateral defense agreement, whose preparation took more than a year: that any assault on the security of the Gulf states ultimately means an assault on the security of the entire region. The signatory states deemed it necessary to send…

My friend Mishary al-Dhayidi wrote in this newspaper a few days ago that anyone seeking to understand the Iranian regime's behavior cannot rest on judging it by his own logic; he must also try to see the world through the regime's eyes. The idea struck me as a key to an important dimension of…

Abdulrahman Al-Rashed is a writer who approaches Gulf affairs with balance and clear judgment. Writing about this issue differs from writing about almost any other as relations among the Gulf states are governed not by slogans, but by precise calculations that combine politics with the bonds of…

Does the Iranian experience since 1979 represent a model of political modernity rooted in religion, or is it better understood as a narrative that combines modern populism with traditional social and political structures? That question remains open, because understanding post-revolutionary Iran is…

I have been following developments in Britain for a long time. Perhaps this seems natural for someone who has spent part of his academic or professional life in contact with other cultures. Many of those who study abroad do not return with just a university degree; they also return with a…

How can we understand the delay and constant revisions to this document, the “Iranian-American memorandum of understanding”, that is said to have been largely completed? Political negotiations are often viewed as a compromise between demands and concessions of two opposing parties. Yet historical…

Wars are not the only catastrophe that can befall nations. Limbo is even more exhausting: “non-war and non-peace.” This is precisely the situation the region finds itself in today. Tensions between Iran and the United States persist, markets remain uneasy, and maritime trade is under pressure. No…

In analyzing Iran’s position, it is not enough to say that what appears to be a dispute within the ruling system is merely a distribution of roles. This phrase, often used by some in our media, does not explain everything on the ground. It is true that closed regimes are skilled at producing…