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Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah arrived in Riyadh on 16 October for “a fraternal visit” to Saudi Arabia, which was linked to efforts to resolve the crisis pitting the GCC-3 and Egypt against Qatar. Sheikh Sabah was welcomed at the airport by Riyadh governor Prince Faisal Bin Bandar Bin Abdelaziz and his deputy Prince Mohammad Bin Abdelrahman Bin Abdelaziz. He then met King Salman Bin Abdelaziz to discuss what official media said were “bilateral relations”.

Iran has cancelled a preliminary agreement with France’s Bouygues to expand Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA) in Tehran, after the French group apparently had difficulty securing backing from international banks. It is the latest sign that US sanctions continue to hamper international businesses wanting to work in Iran. IKIA Airport City Company managing director Mahmoud Navidi told local media the arrangement had been cancelled three or four months ago. Some discussions are ongoing, said a Bouygues spokesman quoted by Reuters.

There were broad smiles around the Majles-e Showra-ye Eslami (Islamic Consultative Assembly or parliament) chamber as President Hassan Rouhani announced that Iran had reached ‘implementation day’ for the nuclear deal – earlier than the US and most of the P5+1 partners had believed likely – and sanctions would be lifted. Analysts said the Rouhani administration had accelerated decommissioning work at Arak to ensure sanctions were lifted before 26 February elections for the Majles-e Showra and Majles-e Khobregan (Assembly of Experts).

US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Marine Corps General Joe Dunford, was in Riyadh on 8-9 November for talks on tackling violent extremism. He met King Salman Bin Abdelaziz, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef Bin Abdelaziz, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, national guard minister Prince Mitab Bin Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz and chief of defence staff General Abdelrahman Bin Saleh Al-Banyan. It was Dunford’s first trip to the kingdom as chairman. From Riyadh he travelled on to Iraq.

On 10 July, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin announced the BDF had agreed to buy sniper advanced targeting pods (ATP) for its F-16 fleet in a contract worth $22.5m. ATP can detect, identify, track and target small objects at long distances and work with laser and GPS-guided weapons against multiple fixed and moving targets.

Jean-Marie Guéhenno is stepping down at end-2017 after three years as International Crisis Group president and chief executive, ICG said on 5 September. The Brussels-based group’s vice president for policy Robert Malley will serve as acting president from 1 January. Between spells at ICG, Malley was special assistant to former US president Barack Obama, holding several regionally focused roles in the White House. A former French diplomat and United Nations under secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, Guéhenno in September was appointed to the new UN High-Level Advisory Board on Mediation.

Tehran paraded the latest addition to its missile arsenal on 22 September, during a military parade held to mark the 37th anniversary of the start of the Iran-Iraq war, which is known as the ‘sacred defence’ in Iran. The Khorramshahr ballistic missile has a range of 2,000km and is deployed with the aerospace force of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), according to official news agencies.

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (MBZ) arrived in New Delhi on 24 January for an official visit. He was received at the airport by prime minister Narendra Modi; the two went on to hold talks at Hyderabad House in New Delhi. The following day. MBZ paid his respects at the Raj Ghat, the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi. MBZ’s delegation included deputy prime minister and minister of presidential affairs Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and chief of the crown prince’s court Sheikh Hamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa hosted a dinner banquet in honour of Ibrahim Ibin Almarhum Sultan Iskandar, Sultan of the Malaysian state of Johor, on 26 November. The meeting was attended by prime minister Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa. The Johor region has attracted significant investment from Gulf countries, although to date it has mainly come from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan will pay an official visit to China from 27-29 March

The European Commission announced on 17 September that it had approved the Kuwait Investment Authority’s takeover of UK-based North Sea Midstream Partners (NSMP) from ArcLight Capital Partners, after deciding that the deal posed no competition concerns. The value of the deal has been estimated at $1.7bn. NSMP owns a number of natural gas transportation and processing facilities in and around the North Sea, including gas processing plants at Teesside, England and St Fergus, Scotland as well as the Shetland Islands Regional Gas Evacuation System.

The Turkish Air Force (THK)’s bombing of positions held by Islamic State (IS, also known as Daesh) in Iraq, which opened on 25 July, was welcomed by the United States and its allies in the conflict with the expansionist jihadist movement. Even more welcome was President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s approval for the US and allies to use Incirlik Air Base to bomb IS positions; this came after many months of lobbying to mobilise a facility that was pivotal in past Middle East wars but excluded by Ankara’s ambiguous attitude over the Syrian conflict.

Plans for a causeway linking Qatar and Bahrain remain dead in the water, despite hopes they might be revived before the 2022 soccer World Cup.

Prince Faisal Bin Khalid Bin Sultan has made what is thought to be his second marriage, to a daughter of Prince Khalid Bin Musaid Bin Abdelrahman.

Prince Turki Bin Salman has been appointed chairman of Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG), replacing his brother Faisal Bin Salman, who was appointed Medina governor in January. SRMG owns Al-Sharq Al-Awsat and Arab News.