Atlantic Council

The Atlantic Council, founded in 1961, is a Washington-based non-partisan think tank focused on transatlantic relations, NATO strategy, and global security. It convenes policymakers, former officials, and analysts across more than 25 programmes, with particular depth on energy security, European defence, and US Foreign Policy. Its Eurasia Center, Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative, Rafik Hariri Center, and Energy Security and Climate Initiative are among its most active divisions. The Council is funded by a combination of foundations, governments, and corporations and publishes extensively on sanctions policy, nuclear non-proliferation, and alliance cohesion. Its research spans Lowdown's cyber, energy, drone, and midterms topics, making it one of the most cross-cited think tanks in current coverage.

On the Iran conflict, the Council warned that European gas storage stood below 30%, a five-year low, as the refill season began with Hormuz closed and Ras Laffan offline . Its analyst Bilal Saab was cited in May 2026 expert analysis of the 26-nation Hormuz Coalition's failure to publish rules of engagement, arguing that the governance gap undermined the operation's deterrence value compared to Reagan's Earnest Will precedent. The Council occupies a contested space: a transatlanticist institution whose core assumptions, collective defence, sanctions as deterrence, and integrated energy markets, are being actively undermined by the Trump administration. Pete Hegseth's rejection of NATO Article 5 collective defence obligations puts the Council's founding rationale under direct strain.

On the Russia track, the Council has tracked the dismantling of US sanctions infrastructure: Task Force KleptoCapture was disbanded and in April 2026 OFAC signed General Licence 134B for Russia on the same day GL-U covering Iranian crude lapsed without renewal.