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Iraq's Constitutional Court ruled early September that a maritime border agreement between Kuwait and its northern neighbour was annulled for being 'unconstitutional'. The dispute highlights the fragile Kuwaiti position in a changing region and the reduced status of its foreign policy. 

The UAE’s commitment to broadcasting its now overt relationship with Israel has seen cabinet ministers holding phone calls with their Israeli counterparts, the formal scrapping of the boycott of Israel on 29 August and an El Al plane landing at Abu Dhabi International Airport on 31 August carrying a delegation including US President Donald Trump’s senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner and Israel’s National Security Council leader Meir Ben-Shabbat.

Abu Dhabi-based Palestinian leader Mohammed Dahlan is back in the headlines, as the former Gazan Fatah heavyweight has to face down accusations of orchestrating the controversial UAE-Israel diplomatic agreement. Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed (MBZ)’s long-time confidante, Dahlan is viewed by some as a potential successor to the ailing 85-year old Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) – despite opposition within the establishment.

The government is failing to win over members of parliament and the public on a variety of political and social issues, while Emir Sheikh Nawaf is finding it hard to impose any authority on events Prime minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah remains at odds with the majority of members of parliament (MPs), ahead of a byelection on 22 May and the National Assembly’s  resumption three days later. With few signs that a breakthrough can be found, fresh elections are becoming ever more likely.

A decision to open an Omani embassy to Palestine, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, was announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAF) on 26 June. It was made “in continuation of the sultanate’s support for the Palestinian people”, a MAF statement said. It added: “A [MAF] delegation… will travel to Ramallah to initiate the opening of the embassy.”Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) doyenne Hanan Ashrawi told a news conference in Ramallah that she hoped “the embassy will help in educating the Omani government on the real nature of the Israeli occupation”.

Even before the new Gaza war shattered comfortable assumptions about regional security, the global economic climate had been hostile, as shown in analysis of the International Monetary Fund's new reports on the global outlook and regional economic performance.

Plans to build the 'Friendship Bridge' between Bahrain and Qatar have been revived, during a visit by Qatari foreign affairs minister and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Bin Jassim Al-Thani to Manama in November.

Omani officials told GSN that the failure to achieve a settlement to the Israel/Palestinian conflict was nurturing radicalisation and undermining the prospects for resolving other political problems across the Middle East.

After almost two months of protests in which more than 400 people are thought to have been killed and another 15,000 injured, Prime Minister Adel Abdel-Mahdi accepted reality, announcing on 29 November that he would step down. His resignation was accepted by the Council of Representatives (parliament) on 1 December, but Abdel-Mahdi and his cabinet will stay on until a new administration is formed.It is not clear how long the interregnum might last, but Iraqi governments have usually taken a painfully long time to form during the democratic period.

Hassan Rouhani’s landslide victory in the presidential election on 19 May – when he won 57% of the vote, removing any need for a second round – presents the second term head of government and the wider political establishment with short- and long-term challenges that will be difficult to resolve. At the most basic level, the result was a retort to the hardline conservative/principalist agenda, which has been roundly rejected by the population, allowing Rouhani to come first in 23 of the Islamic Republic’s 31 provinces.

Oman and Iran have agreed to build a $1bn pipeline across the Gulf, and to export 10bcm of gas per year to Oman. State news agencies reported the deal on 12 March, during Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s two-day visit to Oman, his first trip to the Gulf since becoming president in June. Oman has been looking to buy gas from Iran for years, and negotiations for this specific deal began months ago; in November, Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh had predicted a contract would be signed in mid-March (GSN 958/12). What was signed at Al Alam Palace was an “initial agreement”, which the Omanis described as a “good start”; the two sides have still not agreed on a price for the gas, however, which will come from Iran’s North Pars field.

The interim nuclear deal agreed by Iran and the P5+1 in November (GSN 959/1) came into effect on 20 January. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed the Joint Plan of Action had started, saying Tehran had begun the dilution process and that enrichment of uranium to 20% had been stopped. “This is an important development,” IAEA director-general Yukiya Amano said in a statement. “The IAEA is ready to undertake monitoring and verification in relation to the nuclear-related measures set out in the Joint Plan of Action.”

President Hassan Rouhani’s chosen cabinet emerged from the parliamentary vetting process relatively unscathed, attesting to the new leader’s astute political antennae, and his capacity to balance pro and anti-reform individuals without upsetting Iran’s complex factional interplay. In mid-August, MPs approved 15 of the 18 cabinet nominees, who include both some deemed close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and some identified as being more pro-western, such as foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, seen as likely to push for a grand bargain with the West.

Iran has courted controversy after handing control of Yemen’s diplomatic buildings in Tehran to a Houthi envoy to use as an embassy. Ibrahim Mohammed Al-Deilami presented his credentials to President Hassan Rouhani on 19 November. Deilami had been nominated as the ambassador by the self-styled National Salvation Government of Yemen in August and had presented his credentials to Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif the following month. Rouhani told Deilami that Iran “will stand beside the Yemeni people both in the countering [of] aggressors and in negotiations”.

Hassan Rouhani’s election win prompted a string of congratulatory cables from the leaders of the Gulf Co-operation Council, adding to the sense of optimism that his election has the potential to reverse some of the damage done during the Ahmadinejad years.