"Iraq is so dependent on their exports leaving the Persian Gulf," says Council Lester Crown Senior Nonresident Fellow Rachel Bronson. "I am really worried about unintended consequences."
"Everybody's incentive is for this to end," Council President & CEO Leslie Vinjamuri tells Times News. "But clearly both Iran and the leadership of the United States, President Trump, want to be able to frame this as a win—and they're struggling to see how they can do that right now."
"Bushehr—the nuclear power plant—is closer to Doha and Dubai than it is to Tehran," says Council Lester Crown Senior Nonresident Fellow Rachel Bronson. "Our allies would be at risk . . . should there be a leak."
Council Senior Nonresident Fellow Paul Poast argues that multi-military involvement in the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East has reached the threshold of a world war—though not "at the level of World War I or World War II."
"Much of what has occurred over the last month was forecasted in scenarios that have been tested and re-tested for decades," Council Vice President of Research and Senior Fellow Ariane Tabatabai and Elisa Ewers write.
"While everyone welcomes a cessation of hostilities, Trump’s half-baked approach to peacemaking may well be a recipe for more war in the Middle East," Council Senior Nonresident Fellow Suzanne Nossel writes in a new piece for Foreign Policy.
The US blockade of Iran's coastline raises concerns about a potential confrontation with China and others who have managed to get ships through the Strait of Hormuz, Council President and CEO Leslie Vinjamuri tells Bloomberg. "This is very unchartered territory."
"We are watching another unwelcome phenomenon return to the global stage: the world war," Council Senior Nonresident Fellow Paul Poast argues in the New York Times.
