Mirette F. Mabrouk

Media Coverage

Egypt and Saudi Arabia focus on Eritrea as UAE bolsters ties to Ethiopia

Gaza ceasefire 'likely to hold,' expert tells DW

Egypt wants US troops in Gaza as part of peacekeeping mission, officials say

Mirette F. Mabrouk is a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute (MEI), where she focuses on economic development, regional security, and sustainable development issues in the Middle East and North Africa.

Prior to joining MEI, Ms. Mabrouk served as the deputy director and director for research and programs at the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Atlantic Council. She was also a fellow at the Project for US Relations with the Middle East at the Brookings Institution and was based in Cairo, where she was the director of communications for the Economic Research Forum (ERF).

Ms. Mabrouk comes from a long career in journalism, including over 20 years in print and television. She is the founding publisher of The Daily Star Egypt (now The Daily News Egypt), the country’s only independent English-language daily newspaper at the time. She also served as the publishing director for IBA Media, which produces the region’s leading English-language magazines.

Her work has appeared in prominent publications such as Foreign Policy, The Hill, and HuffPost, and she has been quoted or appeared on major media outlets including the BBC, VOA, Sky News, and The Wall Street Journal. She is the author of the book chapter “And Now for Something Completely Different: Arab Media’s Own Little Revolution” from Reconstructing the Middle East (Routledge, 2017), as well as the editor of the report Rethinking Egypt’s Economy (Middle East Institute, 2020).

She holds an MA in Broadcast Journalism and a BA in Mass Communication from the American University in Cairo.

The Latest from Mirette F. Mabrouk

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Middle Eastern Rivalry in the Horn of Africa

How is competition for influence in the Horn of Africa among Middle Eastern powers — especially the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Israel — reshaping the political landscape? Hosts Alistair Taylor and Matthew Czekaj are joined by MEI Senior Fellows Mirette Mabrouk and Gönül Tol to unpack the dynamics driving this rivalry and its implications for conflicts and alliances across the region.

Battered but Still Standing, Egypt Tries to Weather the Economic Ravages of the Iran War

While Egypt is not in the direct line of fire in the US-Israeli war with Iran, its economy is acutely vulnerable to the conflict. In addition to the rising energy prices and shortages that have affected much of the world, it also struggled with issues that reflected its economy’s own underlying structural vulnerabilities.

Sudan’s Civil War: Internal Dynamics and External Drivers

How the Iran War is Shifting Regional Dynamics

Unfinished business will drive the Mideast agenda in 2026

Following another year of pivotal developments and transformational change, the Middle East could be poised to turn the page on many of its long-running conflicts and sources of instability. But lasting fruits of the processes begun in 2025 will require a determined, intentional focus by regional actors and the United States. Given current trends, MEI experts weigh in on where the region may be headed in 2026.

Water and Power: Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia at Odds Over Africa’s Largest Dam

In this episode of Middle East Focus, hosts Alistair Taylor and Matthew Czekaj are joined by MEI Senior Fellow Mirette F. Mabrouk to unpack the growing tensions over the recently inaugurated Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Nile.

Photo by AHMAD HASSAN/AFP via Getty Images

Egypt passes its fourth IMF review

The long-awaited IMF staff report review of Egypt’s $8 billion loan agreement provides a thorough and unvarnished look at the current state of the economy. The report highlights potential opportunities for the country — but only if it first tackles overdue structural reforms.

Photo by USGS/NASA Landsat/Orbital Horizon/Gallo Images/Getty Images

Egypt and Saudi Arabia: Any good relationship needs work

Egypt and Saudi Arabia share many foreign policy and regional security objectives and have a long and complicated relationship. Recent events in the Middle East have strengthened that relationship, even as they continue to negotiate difficult bilateral issues, like the long-running dispute over control of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir.

Photo by Carlos Barria - Pool/Getty Images

The US enters Israel’s war with Iran — MEI experts react

The United States struck three nuclear facilities in Iran on the evening of June 21, in the midst of the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict. MEI scholars provide real-time analysis to help make sense of what this escalation means and what might come next.

U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One on May 12, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. President Trump is traveling to Saudi Arabia, the first stop on his four-day Middle East visit and the first international trip of his second term. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Trump travels to a Middle East in transition

This week, US President Donald Trump makes his inaugural visit to the Middle East since the start of his second term, traveling to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates on May 13-16. Amid the heightened focus on US policy toward the Middle East, MEI’s experts take stock of Trump’s trip to the Gulf, how his administration has shaped its approach to the wider region in its first several months, and how regional actors are responding to the policies coming out of Washington.

Photo by Ahmad Salem/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Pressuring Egypt over Gaza will not work and is not in the US interest

Almost immediately after the start of the conflict in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his governing coalition began a concerted effort to persuade first the European Union and then the United States to pressure Egypt to accept Palestinian refugees. Egypt refused and continues to do so. Capitulating is not in Cairo’s national interest and bullying it will only backfire.