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The UAE and Kuwait will soon be sending ambassadors back to Tehran, for the first time since early 2016.

A key mediator, Iraqi foreign minister Fuad Hussein, has said his Iranian and Saudi counterparts will soon meet in Baghdad for the highest-level public meeting between Tehran and Riyadh following five rounds of talks between their officials.

US Air Forces Central Command marked a change in leadership at Al-Udeid Air Base on 22 July, when Lieutenant-General Alexus Grynkewich succeeded Lieutenant-General Gregory Guillot as commander of the Centcom facility.

US President Joe Biden’s imminent trip to the Middle East has prompted renewed discussion about the idea of a region-wide defence pact to counter Iran. Such ideas have long been floated for the GCC states alone – and always failed due to a lack of commitment among the six countries to pool their defence resources and command-and-control structures. The talk these days is of an even wider arrangement, involving the likes of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Israel.

Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) secretary-general Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo fell victim to a heart attack in his native Nigeria on 5 July, shortly before he was due to leave the post he had held with some skill and grace for six years. Veteran Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and government official Haitham Al-Ghais is scheduled take over as secretary-general in Vienna on 1 August.

Bahrain’s King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa received Bahraini-Russian Friendship and Business Society chairman George Al-Zuraikat and vice chairman Anatoly Mitrochin at Safriya Palace in Manama.

Bahrain’s Sheikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa won a 160km endurance horse race at Šamorín, Slovakia.

UAE presidential affairs minister Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan has acquired the 160-metre superyacht Blue for a reported $600m.

Dubai can be almost all things to men and women – the regional commercial hub that became a glitzy global city sucks in money and talent, not all of it legal but much of it dynamic. With a small team of close aides and the enthusiastic approval of international corporations who needed a secure and open environment in the region, Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (MBR) has ruthlessly driven the development of his emirate to become an expression of globalised business ambitions, grafted onto a small and generally far more conservative local population.

Kuwait's Crown Prince Mishaal Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah has continued to field calls from regional leaders enquiring after his well-being, following a recent health scare.

Sultan Haitham bin Tarik promoted Brigadier Mohammed Bin Rabe Bin Jamaan Al-Shujaibi to the rank of Major General and appointed him as operations assistant to the Internal Security Service head Lieutenant General Said Bin Ali Al-Hilali.

Flags were raised around the UAE at 9am on 22 June, the day after the official 40-day mourning period for the late President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan came to an end. President Khalifa died on 13 May, after a long illness.

UK defence secretary Ben Wallace has approved the procurement of the first elements of a mobile urban training facilities capability in Oman.

Local defence conglomerate Edge Group signed an agreement with the UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology and Emirates Development Bank on 21 June which will provide up to AED1bn ($270m) in financial backing for further development of Edge’s technologies and manufacturing processes.

Iraq's Defence Industries Commission presented the country's first domestically-manufactured handgun. The Babel handgun has been developed in partnership with China North Industries Corporation (Norinco).