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The United Kingdom government said in December that it was hosting some 21 military personnel from the Gulf for liaison and engagement purposes.

Fawzia Abdullah Zainal was named as Bahrain's ambassador to Egypt late December, via a decree issued by King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa. He takes over from Hisham Bin Mohammed Al-Jowder, who had been appointed in 2020.

Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, are reportedly cautiously moving toward "soft normalisation or partial recognition" of the Taliban, amid fears that international terrorist organisations like the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) could exploit Afghanistan's security vacuum and pose a security threat to Gulf Arab countries.

Kuwaiti diplomat Abdullah Abdulsamad Dashti was appointed United Nations Co-ordinator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative. The initiative was launched by Ukraine, Turkey, Russia and the UN to enable exports of grain, foodstuffs and fertiliser from Ukraine via a safe maritime corridor.

A series of talks between Iranian and GCC officials have been held during December and early January in Gulf capitals, as well as on the sidelines of events in Jordan and Brazil, in moves that suggest Tehran is recalibrating its relations with neighbouring monarchies during a period of intense domestic tensions.

The failure of Yemen’s warring parties to renew their truce in October is regarded by many observers as a sign of both the increasing strength of the Houthi rebel group and a failure of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) to resolve its own internal differences.

Saudi defence minister Prince Khalid Bin Salman was in London on 13 December for talks with his counterpart Ben Wallace and to sign a new bilateral defence agreement.

The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) said on 2 December that it had rolled over a $3bn deposit placed with State Bank of Pakistan. akistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised the move to shore up dwindling foreign exchange reserves.

Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah went back to Italy on 12 December, for what was officially termed a “private visit”. It comes just over seven weeks after the emir returned from his last trip to Italy for medical tests and was the fourth time he had travelled to the country in 2022.

A federal judge in the District of Columbia formally dismissed a lawsuit against Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, in the wake of the White House decision that he was entitled to claim sovereign immunity.

The expensively assembled Qatari football team has performed less well than desired on the pitch, losing their three Fifa World Cup games and finishing bottom of their group. But for the Qatari authorities, the sport itself was always a secondary consideration. Hosting the tournament has given the country a convening power, drawing in heads of state and senior government figures from around the world (and not just from the countries competing at the tournament).

The United States has approved a request from Doha to buy a $1bn anti-drone system. The approval, announced on 29 November by the US State Department, covers ten anti-drone systems from defence companies Raytheon and Northrop Grumman, including 200 Coyote Block 2 interceptors, launch systems, radars, and other related equipment.

Bahrain’s Princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, wife of King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, has reappointed Sheikha Meriam Bint Hassan Al-Khalifa as vice-president of the Supreme Council for Women (SCW) for a three-year term.

The United Kingdom has said it estimates the number of Iranian-supplied Shahed-136 drones used by Russia in its war in Ukraine to be "in the low hundreds".

The UAE launched a new ten-year national strategy on 22 November. The plan, called We The UAE 2031, is based on four pillars: the economy, society, ecosystem and diplomacy.