Open Dialogue Research Journal
For decades, Iran has been considered one of the most influential and challenging powers in the Middle East. In fact, its geographical position, missile capabilities, drone industry, nuclear technology, and extended network of regional allies have given Tehran the ability to pressure its neighbors and change the whole scene in […]
For decades, the idea of Israeli forces advancing toward Damascus belonged mainly to the history books. Syria and Israel remained formally at war, but after 1974 their confrontation was largely contained. Israel bombed Iranian and Hezbollah targets inside Syria, sometimes very close to Damascus, yet occupying Syrian territory beyond the […]
Pakistan’s promise to defend Saudi Arabia is becoming harder to separate from Yemen’s war. On September 18, it was reported that army chief, Asim Munir, had urged Iran to restrain the Houthis amid attacks on Saudi cities and energy infrastructure. The intervention reveals Islamabad’s immediate and practical preference: using its […]
The latest confrontation around the Strait of Hormuz exposes a dangerous contradiction: measures intended to restore deterrence may be deepening the insecurity they promise to resolve. On September 8, Washington said it destroyed five Iranian oil tankers following missile attacks on an American warship. Tehran subsequently claimed attacks against ships […]
The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, signed by Saudi Arabia, T+rkiye and Pakistan on 7 August 2026, is more than a reaction to immediate Middle Eastern instability. It represents an attempt by three influential regional powers to reduce their dependence on external security guarantees and exercise greater control over their strategic […]
The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement was not created by the US-Israeli war on Iran alone, but the war transformed it from a diplomatic possibility into a strategic necessity. Signed by Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan on August 7, 2026, it declares that an armed attack on one member will be […]
Egypt!s absence from the Mecca Joint-Defense Agreement is striking precisely because Cairo is not an outsider to the emerging alignment. The agreement, signed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan on 7 August 2026, establishes a collective-defense principle under which an armed attack against one member is considered an attack against […]
The emerging Saudi-Pakistani-Turkish defense framework represents one of the most significant attempts in recent years to construct an autonomous security architecture linking the Middle East with South Asia. It is still premature to describe it as an “Islamic NATO,” because it lacks NATO’s permanent command structure, standardized operational doctrine and […]
Saudi Arabia’s importance to Middle Eastern stability can no longer be explained only through oil, military spending, or its alliance with the United States. Riyadh increasingly behaves as a regional system manager whose interests depend on limiting disorder. Vision 2030, foreign investment, tourism, logistics, and technology all require a predictable […]
The widening confrontation between Iran and the United States places China in an unusually influential but dangerous position. Beijing is Iran’s most important economic partner, the largest buyer of Iranian oil, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a strategic rival of Washington. Yet China is also […]
Comments