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As the United States pushes for further sanctions over Iran’s nuclear programme, China’s emergence as a major player in oil production threatens to undermine efforts to target the Islamic Republic’s besieged energy industry

Oman’s sovereign rating has improved and there is growth again, but the authorities still face a tough task if they are to lift living standards for the majority. An Iranian gas deal is among potential solutions to drive new projects

The shortfalls in Tehran’s proposal of a new deal on uranium enrichment, even while it intensifies its nuclear programme, has forced long-standing allies like Russia, as well as the Obama administration, to consider taking a much harder line against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his friends

As the international community debates its next steps on Iran’s nuclear programme, Washington has made a show of increasing its commitment to missile defence in the Gulf

The regime’s hardliners thought its critics were a disparate bunch who would melt away under assault from the Basij militia. The fact that protests continue has surprised President Ahmadinejad’s allies as much as outside observers, forcing the regime and other key players – including the United States – to reassess their options

A number of minority and ethnic groups have become more prominent since June's disputed election - and many of them have been severely repressed

United States policy on Iran is little clearer than it was the day President Barack Obama took office, according to GSN’s soundings among US diplomats and Central Command (Centcom) planners. Central tenets of policy, the means and ends, continue to be blown around by the storm of events in the Islamic Republic. And engagement has been thrown decisively off course by Iran’s festering domestic political crisis.

In the division of labour between the regular Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (IRIN) and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN), the principles of decentralisation

The division of responsibilities between Iran’s naval forces, outlined in a new report, will frustrate enemy attacks but not change the outcome of any future conflict with the United States

Omani ministers have been talking up the relationship with Iran, whose importance was underlined by the visit to Tehran this summer of Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al-Saeed. As well as acting as a mediator between the embattled Islamic Republic and its critics, notably the United States and United Kingdom, Oman has a number of national interests in developing ties with Iran, including in the energy sector.

Dubai and other emirates may be talking up the apparently limited impact of the global economic crisis and triumph of federal unity, but many analysts believe the fallout from the credit crunch will further alter inter-emirate relations. A possible consequence of Abu Dhabi bailing out Dubai could be the loss of its independent foreign policy, according to Jim Krane, author of the new City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism – and this will also affect business relations.

Opponents of President Ahmadinejad’s re-election and the wider regime continue to protest and organise, but opposition group leaders are under increasing pressure as the supreme leader and his allies dig in

Humanitarian concerns have forced a ceasefire in Yemen’s murderous Al-Houthi conflict amid signs that the Arab-Iranian ‘cold war’ is hotting up. With Saudi Arabia and Egypt joining the US in seeing wider regional significance in what has long been understood as a localised conflict, Ali Abdullah Saleh is looking to exploit a difficult situation

The government has stressed the Iranian connection in recent communiqués on the northern conflict. Houthi leader Badreddin Al-Houthi exposed his movement to charges of Iranian backing by contacting Shia marjas (spiritual leaders) in Najaf and Qom, drawing stern criticism of government crackdowns from Shia notables such as Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani. Iranian state media has strongly criticised the

As international financial sanctions tighten, Iran has slipped off the radar of most banks, but import letters of credit are still being issued by Iranian banks and may be confirmed by a handful of western counterparts