In the latest Middle Eastern Outlook, American Enterprise Institute (AEI) resident fellow Ali Alfoneh examines how Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC QF) is increasingly shaped by a new generation of commanders like Brigadier General Iraj Masjedi, whose close ties with Iraqi insurgents--now power brokers--date back to the Iran-Iraq war.

It seems that the Iraqi military does not share Secretary Panetta’s confidence that it is ready to handle security without a significant U.S. military footprint.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davatoğlu, Turkey has pursued a policy of good relations with all its neighbors. Well, almost. If Turkey wishes to join Europe or simply have diplomatic credibility in the region, it must end its occupation in Iraqi Kurdistan now.

Once again, as in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, the Obama administration's silence has consequences.

While debate has continued in recent months in Washington and Baghdad about the wisdom and need for U.S. forces to remain in Iraq, Obama's statement at the United Nations General Assembly appears to end the debate.

If experience is anything to go by, the Marines who misbehaved in that video will be disciplined and punished—while those who are trying to exploit those images to undermine their mission never will be.

Upon the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini led Friday prayers at Tehran University. His sermon would carry the weight of an American State of the Union address. With time, Khomeini and his successor Ali Khamenei designated a substitute prayer leader from amongst the regime hierarchy.

On December 2, rioters allegedly stirred up by preachers at Friday prayers rampaged through Zakho, destroying a controversial massage parlor before moving on to torch several liquor shops and hotels. In retaliation, a mob of Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) activists attacked the local office of the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) and KIU media offices in nearby Duhok and Semel.