Why Does the Iran Conflict Keep Escalating?
Prof. Clionadh Raleigh, ACLED founder and CEO, comments on Iran’s strategy of continued escalation and why the current cycle could drag on indefinitely.
Board
Clionadh Raleigh
President & CEO
Prof. Clionadh (Cliona) Raleigh created ACLED while writing her PhD in 2005. Since 2014, ACLED has operated as a non-profit, non-governmental organization in the United States.
While guiding the development of ACLED, she is also Professor of Political Violence and Geography in the School of Global Studies at the University of Sussex in the UK.
Cliona’s areas of expertise include the dynamics of conflict and violence, changing patterns of political violence and conflict data. Her work has also focused on African political environments and elite networks, and she has largely concentrated on subnational power dynamics and their influence on violent movements. In her intensive in-country research, she has engaged with questions on environmental change and violence patterns, and more recently, has developed new measures of civilian exposure to violence.
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Past events
ACLED Conflict Index & 2026 Watchlist Virtual Launch
How will conflict change in 2026? Watch the virtual launch of our annual Conflict Index and Watchlist, offering a data-driven look at global conflict trends.
Webinar | ACLED Conflict Index & 2025 Watchlist
Watch the recorded launch of our ACLED Conflict Index & 2025 Watchlist where ACLED President & CEO Clionadh Raleigh, Head of Data Science Katayoun Kishi, and Head of Analysis Andrea Carboni discuss the findings.
