Hours after the first round of talks to revive Iran's nuclear deal started in Vienna last week, TV cameras attended a ceremony at the Natanz uranium-enrichment plant in Iran to witness the announcement of an increase in the use of advanced (...)
International and regional concerns about developments in Jordan receded by midweek, after reconciliation in the Royal Family ended with the former crown-prince vowing allegiance to the king and constitution.
This was the result of mediation by a (...)
The Omani capital Muscat has been busy with diplomatic traffic aimed at finding a way to end the six-year war in Yemen. Both UN Envoy Martin Griffiths and US Special Envoy Tim Lenderking have been shuttling between Muscat, Riyadh and Aden since (...)
Syria has dominated the Gulf foreign policy scene in the last two weeks. This month marks the start of the Syrian Civil War a decade ago, and the latest relevant diplomatic manoeuvre was a visit to the Sultanate of Oman by Syrian Minister of Foreign (...)
Judging by media reactions in the Gulf, the hype about restoring warm relations between Turkey and the Gulf countries is winding down. This week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his "regret" that Saudi transport aircrafts and six (...)
Oil prices shot up to over $70 a barrel following multiple attacks on Saudi oil facilities in the east of the kingdom at the start of the week. The Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen, after weeks of intensified drone and missile attacks, claimed (...)
The Omani capital Muscat has been the target of various Gulf diplomatic efforts over the last few weeks in relation to the conflict in Yemen.
Though Oman has been trying to keep to the same line of “quiet neutrality” on regional issues inherited (...)
Earlier this month, the US news agency Bloomberg carried a report entitled “Gulf Reaches Out to Erdogan in Wary Move to Ease Tensions” quoting anonymous sources in the region and indicating some kind of potential Gulf-Turkey rapprochement. Though no (...)
Sweden and Switzerland will be hosting a virtual fundraising event for Yemen's humanitarian crisis early next month, but it is not clear if the event is being coordinated with other parties. The new US Special Envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking, (...)
A political settlement of the Yemen crisis seemed more plausible than ever last week when American President Joe Biden outlined his administration's foreign policy. In a speech at the State Department in Washington, Biden said, “This war has to (...)
Last week, statements from almost every party in the Gulf welcomed the prospect of dialogue with Iran. Analysts in both the region and the West are not too optimistic about a speedy breakthrough, however. The flurry of rhetoric took place in the (...)
The details of the reconciliation agreement between Qatar and its neighbours, signed at Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit two weeks ago, still haven't been made public. But Riyadh is fast-tracking the restoration of full diplomatic relations (...)
Sultan Haitham Bin Tarek Al-Said of Oman issued two royal decrees on Monday setting up a new legislative council for the country and establishing mechanisms to appoint a crown-prince and guarantee the stability and transfer of power.
Last year, (...)
In 2017, a boycott had started in response to Doha's support for terrorist groups seeking to destabilise the region.
The Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, attended the meeting of the Supreme Council of the GCC for the first time in four (...)
For the rest of the world, 2020 was mainly the year of the coronavirus pandemic and its implications, but for the Gulf region it was about more than that.
The negative economic impacts of the pandemic, coupled with weak oil prices, pushed (...)
Reports that the next Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit meeting is to be moved from Manama in Bahrain to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia on 5 January have given further impetus to the prospect of a full-house meeting of the leaders of the six countries (...)
Expatriate workers in Kuwait might be relieved that anti-immigrant MP Safaa Al-Hashem lost her seat in the Kuwaiti National Assembly, the country's parliament, in the parliamentary elections that took place in Kuwait on Saturday. Al-Hashem was the (...)
The UK government is coming under fire for having deployed air defence troops to Saudi Arabia some months ago without gaining consent from parliament. The mission has been under the radar since February and is thought to be costing the British army (...)
Public statements from Iranian officials, MPs and military commanders this week vowed retaliation for the assassination of the country's top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, with the finger being pointed at Israel.
When US drones assassinated (...)
Saudi Arabia had a foreign-policy triumph this week when it hosted this year's G20 Summit meeting at the weekend, with Saudi officials being given a global media platform to explain the country's foreign policy and domestic reform agenda.
There was (...)
The last two months of each year have become an opportunity to be optimistic about the end of the war in Yemen and the start of a political settlement over the last couple of years, and all eyes now are on Saudi Arabia's efforts to use the UN as a (...)
The reaction of the Arab Gulf states to the announcement of Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden as president-elect of the United States following last week's US presidential elections has been similar to the reaction of the markets to the (...)
As the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic hits, the prospects of global economic recovery are dimming, and the world is anticipating a double-dip recession.
In this context, the Arab Gulf region is particularly prone to a double squeeze from (...)
The informal call to boycott Turkish goods in some Arab countries is starting to bite into businesses relying on exporting from Turkey to the Arab world, especially to the Gulf countries.
The consequences for Turkey of the campaign have been (...)
Official sources in the Gulf have downplayed recent media reports suggesting that the Qatar crisis could be resolved soon.
The optimism about a solution to the crisis that led Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt to sever their relations with (...)
