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Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, newly named Emir of Qatar, stands out not just because of the sleek manner of his accession, but because of his youth. Born on 3 June 1980, Tamim had only just celebrated his 33rd birthday when he assumed the role for which he has spent more than a decade preparing. In a culture where respect is very linked to age, holding his own among his senescent Gulf counterparts will require some steel. Three of the five other Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) heads of state are more than double his age; the closest in years, at 63, is Bahrain’s King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa.

Politics: The Al-Khalifa family came to power in 1783, driving the Persian empire from the archipelago. The British empire, interested in maritime trade routes, entered into an alliance with the Al-Khalifa 200 years ago; only in 1971 did Bahrain declare independence. The constitution provided for a fully elected parliament, which was formed in 1973 but disbanded in 1975 after a period of repressive rule; a partially elected body was reinstated in 2002.

A court on 27 October again adjourned the trial of former MP Musallam Al-Barrak, this time until 7 January. Al-Barrak was sentenced to five years for his public criticism of Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah during an election rally in 2012. In May, the appeals court overturned that verdict and ordered a retrial (GSN 954/6).

Amnesty International has raised concerns over the situation of Sheikh Salman Al-Awda, who was arrested in September and has been held in solitary confinement, unable to communicate with the outside world, since October. Amnesty said Al-Awda’s family had learnt on 16 January that he had been hospitalised in Jeddah, but had not received further details of his condition. The sheikh, who has a large following on social media, was arrested after tweeting that he hoped to see a resolution to the conflict with Qatar.

By playing a prominent role at the Syria Donors Conference in London in early February, Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah gave a timely reminder that, even at 86 years old, he can make an important contribution to public life. But at home, questions of succession are fueling growing hostility within the Al-Sabah family, with the potential for internal splits to spill over into wider political conflict. In the short term, they have already torpedoed the emirate’s sporting ambitions, with Kuwait likely to be excluded from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Iran was declared an Islamic Republic in 1979, following the overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Supreme Leader (Rahbar) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sits at the top of the political system, his power (in theory) checked by an elected president and parliament; the conflict between theocracy and democracy dictates much of the internal dynamic. The election of President Hassan Rouhani in June 2013, following the firebrand Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, proved a transitional moment in the Islamic Republic’s external relations.

Election hopefuls have a few more weeks to sort themselves out before Iran holds its 12th presidential election. Candidate nominations will open for five days from 11 April. That will be followed by a vetting process by the Guardian Council which will end on 26 April. Many names are likely to be excluded at this stage. The campaign proper will run from 27 April to 18 May. The first round of voting is due on 19 May.

An attack on a camp for Iranian dissidents in Baghdad in the early hours of 9 February killed six people and wounded more than 25. Members of Iran’s Mojahedin-e Khalq – also known as the People’s Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI) – are housed at the former US military base Camp Hurriya and, according to police sources, were subjected to more than a dozen Katyusha rockets.

Emirati law firm Al-Tamimi & Company launched its 13th regional office, in Muscat, Oman, this week, continuing its expansion across the Middle East. An office in Erbil was opened in early October. Other recent entrants to Oman include Pennsylvania’s Duane Morris and London’s Addleshaw Goddard; both opened offices there this year. Observers may be interested to note that Adel, the elder brother of Al-Tamimi & Co founder Essam, in 2011 launched the first case against Oman under the Oman-US Free Trade Agreement of 2009. The case (Adel A Hamadi Al-Tamimi v Sultanate of Oman), at the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, appears to be ongoing, with Oman filing a ‘counter-memorial’ in June. 


Attention has focused on Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah Bin Mohammed following his appointment as education minister. For several years he has served as the General Intelligence Directorate deputy chief and before that was long involved with the Saudi Arabian National Guard at a senior level.

Apart from the usual round of chairing domestic-related meetings (such as the Supreme Committee for Development Planning meetings) and ribbon cutting, heir apparent Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani has had a busy start to the year.

The start of construction on the new Kuwaiti Mubarak Al-Kabir port near Iraq has reignited long-standing resentments over territory, security and the legacy of reparations from the Saddam era

The United States is continuing to push for an extension to a United Nations embargo on conventional arms sales to Iran, which is due to expire on 18 October, despite clear opposition from fellow UN Security Council (UNSC) members China and Russia. Secretary of state Mike Pompeo has said the US will “exercise all diplomatic options to ensure the UN arms embargo is extended.”

While the Riyadh book fair has attracted attention for all the right reasons, in a lesser-reported event, Saudi security confiscated the books of former literature professor and leading liberal Islamist Abdullah Al-Hamid

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani was taken to hospital on 17 December after suffering a stroke, and was later flown to Germany. The first official reports said he had suffered “fatigue and tiredness” as a result of his recent efforts to try to defuse tensions between Baghdad and Erbil, but rumours of the gravity of his condition were quick to follow.