Company intelligence
Middle East Forum
Promoting American interests in the Middle East and defending Western values from Islamist threats.
About Middle East Forum
The Middle East Forum, a think tank founded in 1994 by Daniel Pipes, promotes American interests in the Middle East and protects Western values from Middle Eastern threats. In the Middle East, we focus on ways to defeat radical Islam; work for Palestinian acceptance of Israel; develop strategies to contain Iran; and deal with advancing anarchy. Domestically, the Forum emphasizes the danger of lawful Islamism; protects the freedoms of anti-Islamist authors, and activists; and works to improve Middle East studies. Mission MEF promotes American interests in the Middle East and protects Western values from Middle Eastern threats. The Forum sees the region — with its profusion of dictatorships, radical ideologies, existential conflicts, border disagreements, corruption, political violence, and weapons of mass destruction — as a major source of problems for the United States. Accordingly, we urge bold measures to protect Americans and their allies. In the Middle East, we focus on ways to defeat radical Islam; work for Palestinian acceptance of Israel; develop strategies to contain Iran; and deal with the great advances of anarchy. At home, the Forum emphasizes the danger of lawful Islamism; protects the freedoms of anti-Islamist authors, activists, and publishers; and works to improve Middle East studies. It provides strategic counsel, as opposed to advocacy or apologetics. The Middle East Forum does not issue ritualistic denunciations or praise of events; it only expresses itself when it has something original and important to say. Further, MEF does not take positions itself but leaves this to its staff and fellows.
Verified activity
Signals from Middle East Forum
12 published signals
Capital & Finance
Middle East Forum notes that the second quarter of 2026 saw Saudi oil activity fall 24.7 percent year on year, real GDP fall 4.8 percent, and non-oil activity grow 0.6 percent.
Reported by Middle East Forum
Capital & Finance
Middle East Forum notes that Riyadh entered 2026 facing close to 58 billion dollars in financing needs and has already raised roughly 6 billion in bonds, 4 billion through Aramco, and 7 billion through the Public Investment Fund.
Reported by Middle East Forum
Presence & Recognition
Middle East Forum reports that the European Union provides logistical and financial assistance to the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organizations, which is hosting a European Action Day Against Islamophobia for September 21, 2026.
Reported by Middle East Forum
Presence & Recognition
Middle East Forum credits EU co-funding for its
Reported by Middle East Forum
Research & Knowledge
Middle East Forum reports that Israel's August 18 and 19, 2026 strike on Syria's Abu al-Duhur air base amid a Turkish push to change the status quo in Syria, the visit of Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani to Islamabad on August 19 and 20, and Damascus reviewing its options on the pact.
Reported by Middle East Forum
Research & Knowledge
Middle East Forum reports that Indian security sources tracked the cargo and open source flight trackers and defense analysts point to surveillance hardware, electronic warfare systems, radar equipment, and kamikaze drones.
Reported by Middle East Forum
Research & Knowledge
Middle East Forum reports that Imran Khurshid argues that the timing of the events does not.
Reported by Middle East Forum
Operations & Supply
Middle East Forum reports that Chinese Y-20 transports and a Turkish Air Force C-130 land at Nur Khan Airbase near Rawalpindi and Masroor Airbase in Karachi in repeated, coordinated flights across a 60-hour window, while Pakistan restricts roughly 470 square miles of airspace from Punjab across Sindh and coastal Baluchistan to the Arabian Sea.
Reported by Middle East Forum
Legal & Regulatory
Middle East Forum reports that Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement on August 7, 2025.
Reported by Middle East Forum
Research & Knowledge
Middle East Forum director of research Jonathan Spyer traced how a contiguous Kurdish zone that once ran from the Iran-Iraq border to Afrin came apart in The Jerusalem Post.
Reported by Middle East Forum
Legal & Regulatory
Middle East Forum reports that on September 4, 2026, the Treasury Department designated Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi, an Istanbul investment bank, and two subsidiaries under Executive Order 13902, stating the bank was established for the purpose of enabling Iran's rahbar network to move oil revenue from China to Turkey.
Reported by Middle East Forum
Legal & Regulatory
Middle East Forum reports that Libya's newest roadmap to elections lasted less than a day before the infighting began on August 30, 2026, when Libyan delegates signed a U.N.-sponsored 4+4 committee agreement in Tripoli.
Reported by Middle East Forum