Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, September 20, 2017. REUTERS
Below are the takeaways for the week:
  1. Salafi-jihadi groups continue to challenge the Iranian regime’s security through deadly attacks in Iran’s southeastern region near the Iran-Pakistan border. Iranian media reported that IRGC forces disrupted an unidentified militant group’s plot targeting a border guard station in Saravan, Sistan and Baluchistan Province approximately 20 miles from the Iran-Pakistan border. Groups such as Jundallah and Ansar al Furqan seek to challenge the Iranian regime’s Shia Islamic authority and pose intermittent security threats predominantly to Iran’s southeastern provinces. 
  2. A crackdown on political dissent in Ethiopia may become a regional security crisis. Ethiopian security forces killed and injured dozens of civilians from the Oromo ethnic group, sparking a flow of refugees into neighboring Kenya. The Ethiopian ruling party has yet to name a new prime minister following the resignation of Hailemariam Desalegn in February. The Ethiopian government has so far resisted domestic and international calls to end the state of emergency, which security forces have used to justify violence against peaceful protesters. Unrest in Ethiopia risks disrupting economic activity throughout East Africa and increasing strain on Kenya, which is attempting to recover from its own political crisis.