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The UAE is facing an embarrassing diplomatic situation in the United States, after a seven-count indictment was unsealed in a New York federal court on 20 July. This accused Thomas Barrack, Matthew Grimes and UAE national Rashid Sultan Rashid Al-Malik Al-Shahhi of working with unnamed senior UAE officials to influence then-candidate Donald Trump’s foreign policy during the 2016 presidential campaign and thereafter his administration’s programme once Trump was elected.

UN secretary-general António Guterres appointed Sweden’s Hans Grundberg as special envoy for Yemen, taking over from Martin Griffiths, who was named UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief co-ordinator in May, having held the Yemen job since March 2018.

A UK cabinet reshuffle on 15 September replaced Dominic Raab as foreign secretary with international trade secretary Liz Truss.

A cross-party group of seven senators wrote to US secretary of state Anthony Blinken on 24 September to raise concerns about Bahrain’s human rights record.

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office released files on 23 November giving more detail on events surrounding British Airways flight BA149, which was caught in the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait when it landed at Kuwait City of 2 August 1990.

A royal decree appointing Sheikh Ali Bin Abdulrahman Bin Ali Al-Khalifa as Bahrain’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia was formally issued by King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa on 28 December. Ali took his oath before the monarch at Al-Sakhir Palace on the day.

Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani in mid-January issued a decision appointing Sheikh Abdullah Bin Thamer Bin Mohammed Al-Thani as ambassador to Morocco.

Bahrain and the UAE are facing uncomfortable attention following the extradition of Bahraini national Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed Ali from Serbia on 24 January, which happened despite a European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling that it should not go ahead. Ali appears to have been flown from Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport on board a Bombardier Global 5000 business jet – tail number A6-RJC – owned by Abu Dhabi-based Royal Jet.

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and UAE Armed Forces deputy supreme commander Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (MBZ) hosted Sudan Sovereignty Council deputy chairman General Mohammed Hamdan Daglo (known as Hemedti) on 8 February, for talks that were likely to have focused on Khartoum’s urgent need for financial assistance, but which analysts said might also have involved the former Janjaweed commander seeking support as a potential new phase in Sudanese internal political struggles unfolds.

Bahrain's foreign affairs minister Abdullatif Bin Rashid Al-Zayani was in Moscow for talks with his counterpart Sergey Lavrov on 7 April – as the latest UN General Assembly vote over the Ukraine conflict was held.

Former US ambassador Richard Olson is expected to plead guilty to charges including illegal lobbying on behalf of the Qatari government, The New York Times reported on 27 April.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov flew into Muscat on 10 May, where he met his counterpart Sayyid Badr Al-Busaidi and Sultan Haitham Bin Tariq Al-Said. Neither his talks in Oman, nor a preceding visit to Algeria, had been publicised in advance. Bilateral ties and the Ukraine war were at the centre of the discussions, but the prospects for a revived Iran nuclear agreement will have been hard to ignore.

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad made a surprise visit to Tehran this month for talks with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi. The trip came less than two months after the Syrian ruler was in Abu Dhabi.

Iran has continued to complain that the trial of former Iranian public prosecutor Hamid Nouri in Sweden is politically motivated.

Gulf governments have been stepping in to provide more assistance to Jordan’s troubled economy, with fresh investments from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE announced in early June.