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The Saudi Season of entertainment events is expected to return in Q4 21, as a popular element in the kingdom’s Vision 2030 plan. The programme will begin with the return of Riyadh Season, an amalgam of events, arts and cultural activities in the capital.

Regional rivalries are not necessarily forever – they may dissolve into historic rapprochements, which is how senior diplomats in the Gulf would probably prefer to interpret recent political and diplomatic manoeuvres involving Qatar, the UAE and Egypt in East Africa.

Just 28.75m people voted in the 18 June election, representing a turnout of just 48.5%. It was the first time in the Islamic Republic’s history that a minority of voters took part in a presidential election. The previous record low was set in 1993, when 51% of eligible voters cast a ballot in an election which ushered in a second term for President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

 The Ramlat Khelah border crossing could prove a significant development. Customs and immigration facilities and a road linking the frontier to the Omani highway network at Ibri have been ready for some time. However, delays have been caused on the Saudi side by the technical difficulties of building a road through the Empty Quarter’s shifting sands. As of 7 July, the road on the Saudi side appears to have been completed, albeit buried in sand on some sections, but tarmac has not yet been laid on a 300-metre stretch straddling the border.

The Kuwaiti government continues to crack down on dissenting voices, amid the political crisis in which Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is absent and MPs continue to clash with the executive. The latest episode came when prominent Kuwaiti poet and businessman Jamal Al-Sayer was detained on 5 July over comments he had made on his widely-followed Twitter account.

Lebanon’s Hizbollah has embarked on a more assertive stance towards the Gulf states, targeting the UAE and Bahrain over their normalisation with Israel. The Iran-backed group has been using Lebanon’s laws criminalising contact with Israelis (including Israeli companies) to attack the Abraham Accords signed between the UAE, Bahrain and Israel in 2020.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran – also known as the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) – began its annual conference on 10 July, drawing a crowded line-up of international speakers. While many critics now view the MEK as little more than an Albanian-based violent cult led by Maryam Rajavi, its online event attracted contributors including former United States secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who argued the Trump administration’s policy of sanctions and “maximum pressure” against Tehran should continue.

Deputy foreign minister for international and legal affairs Mohsen Baharvand took over as Iran’s ambassador to London on 6 July.

Defence minister Prince Khalid Bin Salman (KBS) Bin Abdelaziz was in Washington in early July for an extensive series of meetings with all the key figures from the Biden administration.

Risk grade - B↓2↓ Overview Politics: Governed by the Al-Sabah family since the 18th century, Kuwait gained independence from Britain in 1961, with a constitution confirming the hereditary monarchy but giving significant powers to an independent judiciary and elected assembly.

On 22 July, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani inaugurated a new oil pipeline running from Goreh in Bushehr province to a terminal at Jask in Hormozgan province, on the Gulf of Oman. The 1,000km, 42-inch link provides a strategically important new export outlet for Iranian crude.

Qatari ambassador to Afghanistan Saeed Mubarak Al-Khayarin played a significant personal role in the evacuation of Kabul, in an effort that prioritised journalists, activists and female students – and which received very positive coverage from the sort of media Doha likes to cultivate.

Foreign minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan said on 27 August he had made phone calls to his Algerian and Moroccan counterparts, in the wake of heightened tensions between Algiers and Rabat, suggesting Saudi Arabia may be offering its good offices to mediate.

Ten Royal Saudi Land Force students completed a gruelling officer training programme at the Far Eastern Higher Combined Arms School (Dvoku), in the far east of Russia, in July, along with peers from Russia and eight other countries, including Namibia, Angola and Kyrgyzstan.

Russia’s military co-operation in the Gulf fits in with a broader approach to the Middle East/North Africa (Mena) region, by which it has established firm links with a number of countries and tested its equipment in conflicts, including Syria and Libya.