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Recent bilateral talks on border security, water resources and the 5m Afghans living in Iran point to a more positive atmosphere between the neighbours – prompting speculation that Tehran could soon recognise the Taliban government. It comes at a time when other Gulf states have been recalibrating their relations with the isolated regime.

Iran | United Arab Emirates (UAE) | Qatar
Free

Almost 30,000 Kuwaitis have lost their citizenship over the past five months, including more than 10,000 people in the opening weeks of January. The policy is being run by interior minister Sheikh Fahad Yusuf Saud Al-Sabah, with an opaque decision-making process that appears designed to stifle critics as much as address alleged problems around fraud.

Kuwait
Free

The start of services on the Riyadh Metro and hotel openings at the Red Sea Project are positive signs of progress in the kingdom’s ‘giga-project’ economy. But for all the hype about the government’s shift away from Saudi Arabia’s reliance on oil revenues, hydrocarbons are as vital to the economy today as they were when Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman launched his Vision 2030 diversification strategy in 2016. The turnover of key executives suggests the Saudi top team is unhappy with progress to date.

Saudi Arabia
Free

Gulf rulers welcomed a familiar, if neither always firm nor predictable friend’s victory over the widely mistrusted Biden administration to regain the White House. Plenty of questions remain about what a second Trump term might mean for the Gulf economies and for regional security, and the ‘transactional’ populist’s impulsive approach to policy means it is unlikely to be a smooth ride even for his allies. Trump II could further accelerate trends apparent in recent years, of Gulf states pivoting towards Asia and making ever more assertive expressions of national interest, if still under an American defensive umbrella.

Iran | Saudi Arabia | United Arab Emirates (UAE) | Qatar
Free

The consequences of the UAE’s involvement in Sudan’s civil war – where Abu Dhabi has been identified as a key supporter of Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti)’s Rapid Support Forces militia – appears to be increasing, with four of its servicemen alleged to have been killed in South Darfur and the Emirati ambassador’s residence in Khartoum coming under attack.

United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Free

Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani travelled to Ankara in early August for talks on defence co-operation with Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The previous month, Türkiye had sent additional naval vessels and fighter jets to the Gulf country in what may be a sign of nervousness in Doha about what a second Trump presidential term might mean for its security.

Yemen | Turkey
Free

After years of minimal progress, plans to introduce personal income tax in Oman appear to be moving forward, with a draft law passed from the lower house of parliament to the upper house in late June. If it goes ahead, it will be the first income tax in the GCC and could provide a model for Muscat’s neighbours to follow.

Oman
Free

Given his position as the only moderate standing in the presidential election, Masoud Pezeshkian was not expected to win the race to become the Islamic Republic’s next president. Having jumped that hurdle, he now faces a daunting set of domestic and international policy challenges.

Iran
Free

With great power competition rising between the US and China over the development of artificial intelligence, the major Gulf economies are being forced by Washington to pick a side. The UAE appears to have come down firmly in favour of working with American AI firms, while Saudi Arabia has been divesting its American AI investments and striking deals with Chinese rivals.

Saudi Arabia | United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Free

As the GCC region’s big economic powers vie for global business, Dubai is reviving plans to turn Al-Maktoum International into the world’s largest airport, not least preparing for the challenge posed by Saudi Arabia’s eye-watering aviation strategy. The Dubai megaproject’s revival comes as Riyadh pushes to grab a big slice of the international aviation market – if Saudi carriers can overcome the challenge of securing sufficient planes, pilots and passengers needed to meet the kingdom’s hugely ambitious plans.

Kuwait | Saudi Arabia | Oman | United Arab Emirates (UAE) | Qatar
Free

The fourth election in as many years seems unlikely to lead to any dramatic change in Kuwait’s slow-burning political crisis, as most members of the outgoing parliament retained their seats and Abdulkarim Al-Kandari – whose comments about Emir Sheikh Mishaal precipitated the latest poll – increased his vote, suggesting voters were happy to reward the authorities’ outspoken critics.

Kuwait
Free

The UAE has set its sights on carving out a leading international role in artificial intelligence, with national security advisor Sheikh Tahnoun Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Khaled Bin Mohammed vying for national AI leadership – but the pursuit of the powerful technology is also causing friction with the US

United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Free

Iranians have been asked to come out in force to vote in elections to the Majlis-e Shura-ye Eslami (parliament) and Majlis-e Khobregân-e Rahbari (Assembly of Experts) on 1 March.

Iran
Free

None of the Gulf’s emerging ´middle powers’ have issued a detailed policy document setting out their approach to projecting soft power, even as they continue to spend extravagantly while drawing in investment and talent. Autocracies have no real need to orchestrate the sort of public debate that might follow, even if they regularly sound out local opinion via traditional diwans or more modern polling techniques — not to mention ever more pervasive surveillance of their citizens and others’ communications.

Saudi Arabia | United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Free

Emir Sheikh Mishaal Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah has repeatedly called for a new approach to overhaul Kuwait’s factionalised politics and boost economic reform – a position he restated in his inaugural address on 20 December. But changing a system that appears to encourage stasis rather than co-operation will not be easy for Kuwait’s new, 83 year-old ruler. 

Kuwait