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Steven Simon

Steven Simon is an analyst at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and Professor in the Practice of International Relations at Colby. He was National Security Council Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa from 2011 to 2012 and Senior Director for Counterterrorism from 1994 to 1999. His book The Long Goodbye: The US and the Middle East from the Islamic Revolution to the Arab Spring will be published next year. (February 2020)

An Iraqi protesting the use of his country in the conflict between the US and Iran, Najaf, January 2020

The Middle East: Trump Blunders In

The assassination of Qassim Suleimani has left almost everyone, at home and abroad, confused about President Trump’s policy toward Iran.

February 13, 2020 issue

Iranian Basij paramilitary forces during an annual reenactment of the Iran–Iraq War at a park in southern Tehran, 2015

Iran: The Case Against War

Long wars begin with the conviction that they will be short

August 15, 2019 issue

Reckless in Riyadh

On the future of the United States–Saudi relationship

June 27, 2019 issue

Iranians celebrating on the streets of Tehran following the announcement of the nuclear deal, July 2015

Eve of Destruction

September 27, 2018 issue

A Hezbollah supporter during a campaign speech by Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah near Beirut, Lebanon, April 2018

Powder Keg in Syria

May 24, 2018 issue

A Syrian soldier escorting men from Moadamiyeh, a rebel-held suburb of Damascus, following a truce deal to relieve blockades and allow humanitarian aid to reach the area, October 29, 2013

A New Plan for Syria

The most realistic short-term US policy goal in Syria is to find ways to limit the areas of the country in direct conflict. This goal is not as far-fetched as it sounds, and there is already a basis for pursuing it.

September 26, 2014

A Failure of Intelligence?

December 20, 2001 issue

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