In the Shadows of the Iran War: The Horn of Africa

In the Shadows of the Iran War: The Horn of Africa

From Into Africa by CSIS | Center for Strategic and International Studies

March 26, 2026 · 29 min

About this episode

This episode explores the geopolitical implications of the Iran war on the Horn of Africa.

As the U.S.-Israel-Iran war intensifies, global attention is focused on the Middle East, but a profound geopolitical restructuring is unfolding along the Red Sea. For years, the Horn of Africa has been a critical arena for understanding global geopolitical competition and shifts, and the Iran war is exposing the risks and gaps that analysts had foreshadowed. As international attention and diplomatic bandwidth for the Horn’s overlapping crises decline, the region is undergoing rapid political repositioning and transformation as the attention of Gulf states turns inward. In this special episode of Into Africa, Samira Gaid, founding director of Balqiis Insights, rejoins the Into Africa podcast to dive deeper into the geopolitics of the Horn and unpack how the Iran war is reverberating across the region.

People in this episode

Guest: Samira Gaid

Topics covered

  • geopolitics
  • Horn of Africa
  • Iran war
  • U.S.-Israel relations
  • Gulf states
  • political transformation

Keywords

  • Iran war
  • Horn of Africa
  • geopolitical competition
  • Gulf states
  • political repositioning
  • U.S.-Israel relations

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Balqiis Insights, CSIS

Places: Horn of Africa, Iran, U.S., Israel, Red Sea

More episodes of Into Africa

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Into Africa podcast page.