On May 14, 2026, Mr. Mohammed Soliman, a Director at McLarty Associates and a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute (MEI) in Washington, D.C., visited the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST) of the University of Tokyo and held talks with Prof. Satoshi Ikeuchi, the Founding Chair of ROLES. Following the meeting, Mr. Soliman gave a talk at the 4th ROLES Common Room Talk and launched his new book West Asia: America’s New Grand Strategy in the Middle East. Mr. Soliman redefined the Persian Gulf region as “West Asia” and repositioned it within the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy.