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Iran has completed work on its newest naval base at Pasabandar, on the Gulf of Oman in the south-east of the country, according to Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari. The base has been developed along with two new naval zones, Velayat-e-Jask and Nabovvat, located further up the coast at Konarak.

Amid all the talk of war on Iran, it is worth noting that Israeli deputy foreign minister Daniel Ayalon took the time last week to distance his country from any notion of imminent conflict.

The UK’s parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) published its long-awaited report on the UK’s relations with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain on 22 November. It was broadly supportive of the government’s pursual of good relations with the Gulf, but urged London to put more pressure on Bahrain to reform. The inquiry was first announced in September 2012, provoking such dismay in Saudi Arabia that its ambassador to London, Prince Mohammed Bin Nawaf Al-Saud, said at the time that Riyadh would be “re-evaluating” its historic relations with Britain. In fact, the Saudis – as GSN predicted – had little to fear. After a year of gathering evidence – including 71 written submissions, six oral evidence sessions with academics, politicians, diplomats and human rights experts, a visit to Riyadh and a series of informal meetings (including one with Bahraini human rights minister Salah Bin Ali Abdulrahman and another with the secretary-general of Al-Wefaq, Sheikh Ali Salman) – the report concluded that, while the Gulf states might be “particularly challenging” in terms of human rights and democracy issues, “most are also wealthy and powerful, and vitally important to many of the UK’s interests in the region”.

The UAE has signed a support agreement with Swedish defence firm Saab to cover support and maintenance for its airborne surveillance system GlobalEye. The $145m deal runs until 2022, with the work to be carried out in the UAE.

Spanish shipbuilder Navantia has launched the first of five corvettes it is building for the Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF) in what is known as the Al-Sarawat project. A ceremony was held in San Fernando shipyard on 22 July, attended by RSNF commander Vice Admiral Fahad Bin Abdullah Al-Ghofaily. 

The UAE Air Force and Defence Command has requested a further ten Chinook CH-47F cargo helicopters to add to its fleet, at a cost of around $830m. The order was approved by the US State Department on 7 November. The helicopters will be built by Boeing Helicopters Aircraft Company, with engines made by Honeywell Engine Company. The deal includes ten US contractors travelling to the UAE for five years of delivery, training and support. The UAE Air Force already has 20 Chinooks in place.

In a series of decrees on 14 May, King Abdullah made a number of changes at the defence ministry, apparently at the request of Crown Prince Salman. He removed Salman Bin Sultan as deputy minister of defence and replaced him with Khalid Bin Bandar, the Riyadh governor.While there had been rumours for some time that Salman Bin Sultan would go, the timing of the announcement was unexpected, coming just after the close of a major regional defence conference attended by US defence secretary Chuck Hagel.

GSN understands that UK-based Xcalibur Aerospace – a drone company, which is part-owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) – tried to raise $500m in a fund-raising effort focused on the US west coast earlier this year. However, it is believed the effort came to an end without any funds being raised, as investors were unpersuaded about what was on offer.

Court proceedings against former Airbus subsidiary GPT Special Project Management and a number of businessmen began on 14 September.The case involves charges of corruption between January 2007 and December 2012 related to a £2bn ($2.6bn) contract to provide communications services to the Saudi Arabian National Guard (Sang).

Fincantieri patrol vessel launch The technical launch of the first of two offshore patrol vessels ordered from Fincantieri took place on 18 September at the Italian company’s Muggiano shipyard.

National Intelligence Agency of Israel (Mossad) director Yossi Cohen visited Bahrain on 30 September, in the wake of their Abraham Accord. In Manama, Cohen held talks with National Intelligence Agency president Lieutenant-General Adel Bin Khalifa Al-Fadhel, and Strategic Security Bureau chairman Sheikh Ahmed Bin Abdelaziz Al-Khalifa.

Transport slump: Delegates at the Arab Air Carriers’ Organisation (AACO) virtual annual general meeting on 3 November were told it could take between four and seven years for air travel in the region to return to 2019 levels. Passenger traffic is forecast to decline more than 70% this year.

GSN’s year-end Perspective/Agenda feature provides a look back – and forwards – at key events across the region in 2020-21. It gives an opportunity to update the Risk Grades included with each of our regular Risk management reports. After another year of tragedy, Yemen is effectively a failed state (rated F6, the bottom political and financial grades). Qatar has shown itself to be robust in the face of its neighbours’ boycott, its finances warranting an upgrade to 1, putting it on a par with the UAE. Iraq’s political standoffs and financial woes remain deeply troubling, but the situation is improving rather than deteriorating and the prospect of higher oil prices next year should help further; it has been upgraded from E5↑ to D4↓. Oman’s fiscal challenges continue to mount, prompting a downgrade of its economic rating to 3. 

The Royal Saudi Naval Force (RSNF) inducted its new Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk helicopters into its fleet at a late December ceremony, overseen by RSNF commander Lieutenant General Fahd Bin Abdullah Al-Ghufaili and Eastern Fleet deputy commander Rear Admiral Ahmed Al-Buraikan.

The Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) has started registering civilian volunteers to join a reserve force. The first recruitment phase was announced on 11 January and is open to Bahraini male relatives of BDF or National Guard members aged between 18 and 55 (the limit doesn’t apply to technicians or specialists).