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Hardliners in Iran may feel that they held the eleventh election for the Majlis-e Shura-ye Eslami (parliament) just in time. The vote on 21 February returned a chamber dominated by conservatives, as a result of the widespread exclusion of moderate candidates by the Guardian Council, and low turnout among a disillusioned populace. But given the authorities’ failure to cope with the Covid-19 outbreak since then, the authorities will have to work even harder to supress public anger in the future.

Thousands of labourers went on strike on 12 March in Oman, to demand better safety conditions after a worker died in an accident. According to Reuters, an Indian working on the expansion of Muscat airport was run over by a bus belonging to contractor BEB on 11 March. “We will not go to work today unless our company assures us that they will revise safety standards in our workplace,” Mohan Raman told the newswire.

Sheikh Khalid Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan has married a daughter of Education Minister Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al-Nahayan.

Further violence has been reported as tension persists in parts of Eastern Province following the execution of dissident cleric Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr. Masked men threw firebombs at an intelligence service compound in Qatif, Reuters reported activists saying on 11 January. A Ministry of Interior spokesman said, “there was a failed terrorist attempt to burn the building with Molotov cocktails”, and one of the assailants was captured.

Kuwait has asked the US government for clearance to buy a series of radar systems, including six short-range and one long-range radar, plus training and support. The $194m deal will improve early warning for fixed and rotary wing aircraft along the northern and eastern borders. Three companies are competing for the contract: Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman Corporation and Raytheon Company.

On 28 May, a lawyer for two of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent civil rights activists – Mohammed Al-Qahtani and Abdullah Al-Hamid – filed an appeal against the hefty prison sentences they were given in March for charges including disobeying the ruler and inciting disorder. Al-Qahtani and Al-Hamid are two of the 11 founders of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), which was set up in 2009.

Emirates Airline has finalised a $56bn deal with Boeing for 150 777Xs. The announcement was made at the Dubai Airshow in November 2013, and confirmed by Boeing on 9 July. “The order – a combination of 115 777-9Xs and 35 777-8Xs – also includes purchase rights for an additional 50 airplanes that, if exercised, could increase value to approximately $75 billion at list prices,” Boeing said.

On 27 June 1995, the news that Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani had deposed his father, Qatar’s then emir Sheikh Khalifa Bin Hamad Al-Thani, made news bulletins across the world. A palace coup makes for good headlines: flanked by loyal officers, Hamad, then 43, told the cabinet: “I am not happy with what has happened but it had to be done and I had to do it.” His father, who was in a luxury hotel in Zurich at the time, described the usurpation as the “abnormal behaviour of an ignorant man”, though his protests faded as the level of support for Hamad became clear.

Princess Nazha Bint Saud Bin Abdelaziz Al-Saud died on 26 June. Her funeral prayers were held at Imam Turki Bin Abdullah Mosque in Riyadh the following day.

The chief executive of Bahrain Telecommunications Company (Batelco), Sheikh Mohammed Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, quit the company with immediate effect on 21 May. According to Reuters, Batelco has temporarily appointed Peter Kaliaropoulos – Sheikh Mohammed’s predecessor – as chief operating officer, and asked him, along with a three-person committee of members of the board, to run the company until a new chief executive is hired.

Sheikh Abdullah, a son of Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani has been in Jordan to offer condolences to King Abdullah II

A battalion of 300 Sudanese troops arrived in Aden on 17 October, to bolster the Saudi-led coalition. Their remit, a source told Reuters, was to “help maintain security for the city against the Houthis and [former president] Ali Abdullah”. It comes after a period when Sudan has been consolidating its military relations with Gulf states.

Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al-Said flew to Germany on 9 July “to spend the annual vacation and conduct some medical examinations”, according to the state-run Oman News Agency. The sultan, who came to power in 1970, is 73 and has no known children. Concern over who will replace him has put him under increasing pressure to publicly designate an heir from the relatively small pool of potential successors (GSN 956/3).

Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa has been seen in several western capitals (including London in May and Washington in June) over the past few months, but has also been travelling at home.

Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani was in Germany on 18 February to attend the Munich Security Conference (see also Diplomatic brief). He was in the front row to watch German Chancellor Angela Merkel give her speech and also held a series of meetings on the sidelines of the event, including with Armenia’s President Armen Sarkissian, US acting secretary of defence Patrick Shanahan, US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi and chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Eliot Engel.