Mona Yacoubian

Director and Senior Adviser, Middle East Program
Mona Yacoubian

Mona Yacoubian is director and senior adviser of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She has more than thirty years of experience working on the Middle East and North Africa, with a focus on conflict analysis, governance and stabilization challenges, and conflict prevention. She was previously vice president of the Middle East and North Africa Center at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), where she managed field programming in Iraq, Libya, and Tunisia as well as Washington, D.C.–based staff. In 2019, she served as executive director of the congressionally appointed Syria Study Group. From 2014 to 2017, Yacoubian served as deputy assistant administrator in the Middle East Bureau at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she had responsibility for programming across Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq. Prior to joining USAID, Yacoubian was a senior adviser at the Stimson Center and a special adviser on the Middle East at USIP. From 1990 to 1998, Yacoubian served as the North Africa analyst in the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Her opinion pieces have appeared in the New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and various other outlets, and she has testified to Congress six times. Yacoubian was a Fulbright scholar in Syria, where she studied Arabic at the University of Damascus from 1985 to 1986. She has held an international affairs fellowship with the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and is a CFR member. She earned a master’s in public administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor’s in public policy from Duke University.

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Executive Education

Global Foresight: Geopolitical Risk and Scenario Planning

Global Foresight: Geopolitical Risk and Scenario Planning is Washington’s premier executive certificate program for mid-to senior-level professionals responsible for helping their organizations navigate geopolitical uncertainty and prepare resilient long-term strategies.

Course Date: October 26, 2026
Registration Closes: October 16, 2026

Fueling Discontent 

This installment of Charting the Middle East traces the rapid rise in government-set fuel prices in Syria, highlighting how the Iran war’s economic effects are introducing new risks to regional stability.

Newsletter by Mona Yacoubian and Kira Nygren — September 24, 2026

The Middle East at a “Hinge Moment”

The Middle East has entered a hinge moment—the old order dying, a new one yet to emerge. As the region’s own actors, fortified by newfound agency, compete to shape this unsettled interval, many trajectories, from renewed conflict to stabilization, remain possible.

Commentary by Mona Yacoubian — September 9, 2026

Is the Iran War Entering a Dangerous New Phase?

Escalating U.S.-Iran strikes are widening the conflict beyond the Strait of Hormuz, threatening Gulf infrastructure, regional stability, and global energy security. Yet behind the fighting, mediators are searching for an off-ramp before the crisis spirals further.

Commentary by Mona Yacoubian — July 20, 2026

Audio Briefs

Is the Iran War Entering a Dangerous New Phase?

An audio version of "⁠Is the Iran War Entering a Dangerous New Phase?⁠," a new commentary by CSIS’s Mona Yacoubian. This audio was generated with text-to-speech by Eleven Labs.

Podcast Episode by Mona Yacoubian — July 20, 2026

Audio Briefs
Audio Briefs

What a Fragile U.S.-Iran Ceasefire Means for Energy and Beyond

An audio version of "⁠What a Fragile U.S.-Iran Ceasefire Means for Energy and Beyond⁠," a new commentary by CSIS’s Raad Alkadiri, Clayton Seigle, Jon B. Alterman, Mona Yacoubian, Joely Virzi, and Caitlin Welsh. This audio was generated with text-to-speech by Eleven Labs. 

Podcast Episode by CSIS Scholars — July 1, 2026

Audio Briefs