HOUSTON – (Oct. 26, 2022) – The future of relations between the United States and the Middle East – particularly Iran – will be the focus of a Nov. 1 conference at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

The half-day conference, co-sponsored by the Baker Institute’s Edward P. Djerejian Center for the Middle East and the Middle East Institute, features two panels with experts examining how global energy, economic dynamics, regional security and geopolitical tensions impact the role of the Middle East and its significance to the U.S.

Paul Salem, president and CEO of the Middle East Institute, and David Satterfield, Baker Institute director and former U.S. ambassador to Lebanon and Turkey, will provide welcome remarks.

What: Baker Institute event: Conference on U.S.-Middle East Relations.

Who: Brian Katulis, vice president of policy at the Middle East Institute; Gregory Gause, professor of international affairs and chair of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University; Dalia Dassa Kaye, senior political scientist at UCLA’s Burkle Center for International Relations and former director of the Center for Middle East Public Policy at the RAND Corporation; Jim Krane, Baker Institute Wallace S. Wilson Fellow for Energy Studies; Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar, Baker Institute fellow for the Middle East and associate professor of international affairs at Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government and Public Service; Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Baker Institute fellow for the Middle East; and Alex Vatanka, Middle East Institute director of the Iran Program and senior fellow of the Frontier Europe Initiative.

When: Tuesday, Nov. 1, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Where: Rice’s James A. Baker III Hall. The event is free, but registration is required. A recording will be available on the event page the following day.