Tech & Geopolitics & EMEA @MiddleEastInst. Fellow @FPRI & @TrilateralNA. Prev. @GUDiplomacy & @USIP & @georgetownmsfs. Book: West Asia (Polity, 2026)
Washington|Mexico City|Cairo
Joined September 2009
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Big news to share: my book West Asia: A New American Grand Strategy in the Middle East is coming out in November 2025 with @politybooks.
Very happy to see the growth of @thegeopoldesk throughout the last year
An important addition to the analytical and media landscape in the region, particularly in North Africa where it remains severely underreported.
Javad Zarif’s proposal for a West Asian security framework reflects a much broader geopolitical transformation already underway.
In April, we spoke with strategist @ThisIsSoliman, whose book West Asia anticipated this shift, about how the Iran war, Asian integration, Gulf capital and emerging security arrangements are reshaping the region.
The Middle East as we knew it is changing. But what is replacing it?
Read our exclusive interview 👇🏽
thegeopoliticaldesk.com/moha…
Mohammed Soliman retweeted
Javad Zarif’s proposal for a West Asian security framework reflects a much broader geopolitical transformation already underway.
In April, we spoke with strategist @ThisIsSoliman, whose book West Asia anticipated this shift, about how the Iran war, Asian integration, Gulf capital and emerging security arrangements are reshaping the region.
The Middle East as we knew it is changing. But what is replacing it?
Read our exclusive interview 👇🏽
thegeopoliticaldesk.com/moha…
Mohammed Soliman retweeted
Everyone seems to have an Africa Strategy, except the people in charge of African countries.
Mohammed Soliman retweeted
Chinese labs depend *a lot* on revenue from western markets to survive
American labs are not dependent *at all* on any revenue from the Chinese market
Been pondering about this a lot....
Mohammed Soliman retweeted
If you want to understand why Tehran thinks in these terms, I'd recommend my book, West Asia. A new security architecture will eventually take shape across the region, and the open question is whether it will end up as two architectures or one.
If you want to understand why Tehran thinks in these terms, I'd recommend my book, West Asia. A new security architecture will eventually take shape across the region, and the open question is whether it will end up as two architectures or one.
Mohammed Soliman retweeted
يرأس صاحب السمو الملكي الأمير خالد بن سلمان بن عبدالعزيز آل سعود، وزير الدفاع، وفد المملكة للاجتماعات التي تستضيفها العاصمة الإيرانية طهران اليوم بين دول اتفاقية مكة للدفاع المشترك مع المسؤولين من الجمهورية الإسلامية الإيرانية.
وذلك بمشاركة المشير/ عاصم منير، رئيس أركان الجيش الباكستاني، والسيد/ إبراهيم قالن، رئيس الاستخبارات التركية، وسيلتقي ممثلوا دول اتفاقية مكة للدفاع المشترك فخامة رئيس الجمهورية الإسلامية الإيرانية مسعود بزشكيان، ومعالي الأمين العام للمجلس الأعلى للأمن القومي محسن رضائي.
وتأتي الزيارة في إطار استمرار جهود دول اتفاقية مكة للدفاع المشترك لخفض التصعيد بين أطراف الأزمة الحالية وتشجيع الحوار والحلول الدبلوماسية، ودعم جهود الوساطة التي تقوم بها دولة قطر وجمهورية باكستان الإسلامية، والتأكيد على الدور المحوري لدول اتفاقية مكة في استتاب أمن المنطقة واستقرارها والعمل مع كافة دول المنطقة في سبيل تحقيق ذلك الهدف.
Great conversation about my book, West Asia, with @KabirTaneja at the @orfmiddleeast in Dubai.
@politybooks
.@orfmiddleeast hosted a closed-door discussion with @ThisIsSoliman, author of “West Asia: A New American Grand Strategy in the Middle East.”
The discussion explored the book’s core thesis on the #US approach to the region across successive administrations. Beyond its focus on the pivot to #Asia, it also assessed the #Iran conflict and its implications for regional #security.
@KabirTaneja, @SinGulfura, @mahdijasimg
Mohammed Soliman retweeted
My book West Asia argues that a Turkey-Pakistan will be foundational to a broader Indo-Islamic coalition (not an alliance) that would bring in Qatar Saudi, and perhaps Egypt, and eventually link with Indonesia and Malaysia. And here we are: the Iran war has catalyzed the thesis.
Turkiye, Qatar, Pakistan and Indonesia have signed an agreement aimed at boosting defence cooperation and strengthening defensive capabilities, according to the Turkish Defence Ministry.
🔴 LIVE updates: aje.news/70ozws
My book West Asia argues that a Turkey-Pakistan will be foundational to a broader Indo-Islamic coalition (not an alliance) that would bring in Qatar Saudi, and perhaps Egypt, and eventually link with Indonesia and Malaysia. And here we are: the Iran war has catalyzed the thesis.
Turkiye, Qatar, Pakistan and Indonesia have signed an agreement aimed at boosting defence cooperation and strengthening defensive capabilities, according to the Turkish Defence Ministry.
🔴 LIVE updates: aje.news/70ozws
Mohammed Soliman retweeted
The China we are seeing now is basically post-Bubble Economy Japan on steroids.
Shanghai tops world in empty offices as overseas investment pulls away s.nikkei.com/4hSDyHn
Mohammed Soliman retweeted
Barrack is one of the more curious Trump officials out there in the world. He has ruffled a lot of feathers, contradicted WH policy at times and comported himself as a neo-Ottoman grandee back in the Levant. He even bases himself more in Istanbul than Ankara
Tom Barrack at Global Security Form in Doha says the US no longer wants to own the “Grand Bargain” – oil in return for security. Says that conflict and controversy was to the western favor, the more off-base the region was the more it could manipulate the fossil fuels. He said that the America that is the guarantor to the world for the last 80 years is no longer there. Says this isn't "abandonment" but that the US now wants to "tend". Calls it a process similar to "raising teenagers"
Mohammed Soliman retweeted
What happens in the Gulf doesn't stay in the Gulf.. Yesterday I joined @BeckyCNN on @CNN from Abu Dhabi to talk through where the region stands.
Yemen: The Saudi defense minister's visit to Abu Dhabi matters. Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have more in common on Yemen than before, and the Houthis are pushing a two-front war on Iran's behalf.
Russia: It's no longer speculation that Moscow gave Iran equipment and targeting capacity early in the war..
Capital: I'm not worried about Gulf sovereign wealth funds in the year ahead. They are long-horizon investors with strong, successful bets. But the longer the war runs, the more budgets and reconstruction bills could come under strain. Watch 2027.
AI Infrastructure: The fundamentals haven't changed: abundant energy, capital, political commitment, and proximity to markets that need compute. The world needs about 150 GW online in three years, at roughly $50B per gigawatt. Few places outside the US and China can fund that. What has changed is the security profile, so data centers will go underground and inside air defense umbrellas.
Ukraine Playbook: Kyiv doubled its compute capacity, and that is a big reason Ukraine is still in the fight. Without AI, it would have lost the war. The Gulf is now facing its own confrontation with Iran, and it will need to follow the same playbook.
@MiddleEastInst
Mohammed Soliman retweeted
@ThisIsSoliman explains why Sunday’s Saudi-UAE talks matter: “The Saudis have to bring more countries to this coalition to make sure that they’re able to fight against the Houthis. ... Having this meeting in Abu Dhabi is extremely important in bringing those two powers together.”
What happens in the Gulf doesn't stay in the Gulf.. Yesterday I joined @BeckyCNN on @CNN from Abu Dhabi to talk through where the region stands.
Yemen: The Saudi defense minister's visit to Abu Dhabi matters. Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have more in common on Yemen than before, and the Houthis are pushing a two-front war on Iran's behalf.
Russia: It's no longer speculation that Moscow gave Iran equipment and targeting capacity early in the war..
Capital: I'm not worried about Gulf sovereign wealth funds in the year ahead. They are long-horizon investors with strong, successful bets. But the longer the war runs, the more budgets and reconstruction bills could come under strain. Watch 2027.
AI Infrastructure: The fundamentals haven't changed: abundant energy, capital, political commitment, and proximity to markets that need compute. The world needs about 150 GW online in three years, at roughly $50B per gigawatt. Few places outside the US and China can fund that. What has changed is the security profile, so data centers will go underground and inside air defense umbrellas.
Ukraine Playbook: Kyiv doubled its compute capacity, and that is a big reason Ukraine is still in the fight. Without AI, it would have lost the war. The Gulf is now facing its own confrontation with Iran, and it will need to follow the same playbook.
@MiddleEastInst
From day one, Iran’s strategy has been to internationalize the war and its consequences: higher energy and commodity prices, food shortages, and global insecurity for shipping and flights. Proof 👇🏽👇🏽
Mohammed Soliman retweeted
India might be the focus of China's new export controls on construction machinery.
India is not called out explicitly, but China is now prohibiting certain machinery to "sensitive countries and regions that have disputes with China" 与中国存在争议的敏感国家和地区.
These include:
- Tunnel-boring machines, which China has appeared to limit to India in the past
- High-altitude concrete spraying machines (above 3,000 m altitude), which might be about military construction in the Himalayas
Mohammed Soliman retweeted
Could Gulf sovereign wealth funds pull back on investments? Amid regional uncertainty and fears of global bond market spillover, I ask @ThisIsSoliman if investors should be worried: