Few bilateral relationships have shaped the modern Middle East as deeply as the one between Washington and Tehran. The history of US-Iran relations runs from close Cold War partnership to decades of open hostility, with a covert coup, a hostage crisis, and a contested nuclear program marking the major turning points. This is a factual … Read more
The US military presence in the Persian Gulf began as a tiny naval outpost in 1949 and grew into one of the largest concentrations of American forces outside the United States. Today it spans naval headquarters in Bahrain, sprawling air bases in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, and army logistics hubs in Kuwait. This … Read more
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is one of the most watched groups in the global economy, yet its core function is fairly simple. It tries to manage how much oil its members put on the market. Understanding how OPEC influences oil prices mostly comes down to one idea, which is supply. What OPEC … Read more
The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow band of water between Iran and Oman, and it carries a share of the world’s energy that few other places can match. Roughly a fifth of global petroleum liquids and a similar slice of liquefied natural gas pass through it. That concentration is why a single waterway commands … Read more