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The Kuwaiti Constitutional Court’s decision to annul the September 2022 general election and reinstate the previous National Assembly (parliament) has wide-ranging implications, going beyond its immediate impacts of wiping out any legislation passed since the poll and returning Marzouq Al-Ghanim as speaker.

The lead article analyses the efforts of various GCC states to reform their relationships with neighbours. In this shakeup, ideological relationships are morphing into ones which are more transactional and Iran could yet emerge as a viable location for investors from the Gulf monarchies. The following politics section has a piece on the latest Kuwaiti political crisis as the nation's constitutional court annuls the September 2022 general election to reinstate the previous National Assembly.  Continuing on from the previous issue's Energy and Industry article on Yemeni offshore upstream troubles, issue 1166 reports on the UN-brokered plan to remove 1m barrels of crude from the wreck of the FSO Safer near Hodeidah. The possibilities for further collaboration between Houthis and other authorities is speculated on. Risk Management Reports focus on Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan. To mark the 20th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, GSN draws on its extensive archive to offer a perspective piece on the build-up to the conflict and how its echoes are still felt today.  This issue's view article, free to view for registrants, addresses how the UAE's stance towards Russia is troubling to western nations.

If it were a small nation, Basra could be a wealthy petrostate like Abu Dhabi or Kuwait. Instead, it is Iraq’s poorest province, despite producing 90% of government revenues. It has though been growing in stature and influence – underlined by the success in hosting the Gulf Cup football tournament in January.

National carrier Saudia's fleet will be updated with at least 39 new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, but newly-established Riyadh Air could get even more, underlining Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s determination that yet another Public Investment Fund (PIF) vehicle muscles into the domestic market. The deal is worth close to $37bn, US government officials calculated – suggesting that, whatever the geopolitics, America Inc can still flex its muscles in the kingdom.

A UN-brokered deal to remove some 1m barrels of crude from the FSO Safer should avert an environmental disaster at the dangerously unstable wreck near Yemen's Hodeidah port and also points to increasing scope for deals between the Houthis and other authorities.

Overall, the Iraqi delegation - led by foreign minister Fuad Hussein, and included  bankers, businessmen and spin-doctors - left Washington satisfied by the positive optics around the US-Iraq partnership and broad acceptance of prime minister Mohammed Al-Sudani's agenda.  

Saudi Arabia's King Salman Bin Abdelaziz appointed a well-known local journalist - Salman Bin Yousef Bin Ali Al-Dosari - as media minister, in a minor reshuffle of officials. Al-Dosari is a former editor of London-based daily Asharq Al-Awsat.

Iran has unveiled a new cruise missile, named the Paveh, which, with a claimed range of 1,650km, could easily reach Israel.

Saudi Prince Fahd Bin Mansour Bin Nasser in early March launched the Saudi-Pakistan Tech House in Islamabad, to focus on creating opportunities via partnerships with Pakistani IT companies.

Free trade deal taking Tehran further into Russia’s orbit: Tehran continues to negotiate a free trade deal with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), with local media suggesting an agreement may be signed later this year. Six rounds of talks have been held, following a temporary agreement signed in May 2018 which came into force in 2019.

A United Nations appeal to raise funds to tackle Yemen’s deepening crisis failed to meet its target at the high-level event in Geneva late February, raising just $1.2bn of the $4.3bn that was sought. It was a shortfall that echoed what has happened at past UN fundraising events.

In rare public criticism of the authorities, Grand Mufti of Oman Ahmed Bin Hamad Al-Khalili has voiced his objection to a recent decision to open Omani airspace to Israeli planes.

Iranian officials have announced a large lithium discovery in Hamedan province, south-west of Tehran. Iran is planning to seek international expertise to develop the reserves and to tap private sector investment, but the search for overseas partners will be complicated by US sanctions on the mining sector.

The 86th Flotilla of the Iranian Navy (Nejada) docked in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil late February for a week-long port visit, having apparently bypassed the Panama Canal by taking a 7,000 nautical mile detour around South America instead. It is unclear where the flotilla is heading for next.

The Central Bank of the UAE said it revoked the licence of Dubai-based exchange house Dollar Exchange due to "serious regulatory misconduct by the exchange house". Before that, it said it had taken similar action against Al-Rasheed exchange house, which had engaged in "serious AML malpractice".