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It was not immediately obvious how serious the issue would become when the Qatar crisis began with the planting of ‘fake news’ stories on the Qatar News Agency (QNA) website on 24 May 2017. The region has seen plenty of divisions and arguments between members of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) before – not least in 2014 when Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE briefly withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar. However, it soon became clear this was something different.

Foreign affairs and international co-operation minister Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (ABZ) has continued what increasingly looks like a world tour. Following visits to a number of Asian countries, he arrived in Canada, where he held talks with foreign affairs minister Chrystia Freeland and national defence minister Harjit Singh Sajjan on 29 May. A deal to give UAE citizens visa-free access to Canada was announced following a meeting with immigration, refugees and citizenship minister Ahmed Hussen.

Saudi energy minister Khalid Al-Falih was among the more notable visitors to the annual St Petersburg International Economic Forum, held in Russia’s second city from 24-26 May. Falih held talks with his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak to discuss how to move forward with an oil production pact which has now been in place for more than a year between members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and some non-members led by Russia.

Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa held talks with UK secretary of state for international trade Liam Fox at Riffa Palace on 27 May. Salman reportedly emphasised Bahrain’s eagerness to expand commercial and trade ties with the UK – music to the ears of Fox, who needs to find ways for Britain to replace a likely drop in trade with Europe if and when London goes ahead with its ‘Brexit’ from the European Union in March 2019.

Business interests controlled by the Al-Thani family have taken a “substantial majority” stake in Belgian chocolatier Galler, according to business daily De Tijd. The Liege-based company’s founder Jean Galler is reportedly staying on as creative director, but the Al-Thanis are expected eventually to take full ownership. Galler already has a shop in the Mall of Qatar in Doha, and outlets in France, Japan, Lebanon and Luxembourg.

UK-based Pergas International Consortium – a collection of 13 companies from Asia, Australia, Europe and North America focused on developing oil and gas projects in the Middle East – signed a heads of agreement with the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) for the development of the Keranj oil field in Khuzestan province. The deal is the first oil and gas deal in Iran by an international company since the US announced it would pull out of the nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions on the Islamic Republic, including on its hydrocarbons industry.

UAE links to the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar have again been on display, with the commissioning of a new flagship for the LNA’s navy. The LNA General Command released a video showing the Al-Karama (Dignity) vessel arriving in Benghazi port on 17 May, where it was received by chief of staff of the LNA’s naval forces Major General Faraj Mahdawi, director of its Armed Forces Procurement Department Major General Abdullah Aoun and others.

The impact of President Donald Trump’s decision to exit the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) continues to be felt, with the split between the United States and Europe as wide as ever and the main protagonists issuing competing (and equally unrealistic) demands. Secretary of state Mike Pompeo set out Washington’s ‘plan B’ in a speech on 21 May, in which he listed 12 conditions before the United States would change course, including a halt to Iran’s ballistic missile build-up and an end to support for Lebanon’s Hizbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and others.

Muscat has signed separate memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with Shell and Total to develop recent natural gas discoveries in the Greater Barik area of Block 6 in central Oman, close to BP’s Khazzan tight gas field which was brought onstream in September. The proposed development is expected to produce an initial 500mcf/d, potentially rising to 1bcf/d in time.

Federal Vice President, prime minister and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum announced on Twitter on 20 May that the UAE cabinet had voted to lift foreign ownership restrictions on businesses. It is also to introduce a ten-year visa for some groups, including investors, scientists, doctors, engineers and entrepreneurs. The decisions are due to be enforced by Q3 2018. The changes are expected to stimulate investment. Dubai-based Emirates NBD says that some of the Dh164bn ($44.7bn) that expats remit home is now likely to be invested locally.

The National Assembly voted on 13 May to defer plans to introduce a value-added tax until 2021, three years after the implementation date originally agreed by all six Gulf Co-operation Council members. To date only Saudi Arabia and the UAE have brought in the 5% levy on goods and services. However, the National Assembly is still expected to push ahead with the introduction of excise duty to be paid by Kuwaitis on tobacco products and sugary drinks later this year.

The UAE finalised a defence security and co-operation agreement with Japan, with the deal signed by minister of state for defence affairs Mohammed Bin Ahmed Al-Bowardi and Japan’s minister of state for defence Tomohiro Yamamoto in the Defence Ministry in Tokyo on 12 May. Al-Bowadi also held talks with Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency commissioner Suzuki Yoshiyuki.Japan has traditionally taken a very cautious approach to arms exports and defence technology transfer, so any developments in this area are liable to be slow-moving.

Moqtada Al-Sadr’s Sairoon (On the Move) electoral bloc emerged as the main winner from the general election held on 12 May. The Shia cleric’s coalition won 54 seats in the 329-seat Chamber of Representatives. It was followed by Hadi Al-Ameri’s Fatah coalition with 47 seats, prime minister Haider Al-Abadi’s Nasr grouping with 42 and former PM Nouri Al-Maliki’s State of Law with 26 seats.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published a lengthy essay on 16 May detailing what it said were the main sources of wealth of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. His father, King Salman, has a reputation for being less concerned about personal wealth and eyebrows have been raised by some of the large recent purchases linked to MBS, including Salvator Mundi, a painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, which sold for $450m and has been loaned to Le Louvre Abu Dhabi in a significant gesture of Saudi soft power.

A UK Crown Court has dismissed the charges brought by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) against Barclays Bank in relation to the fundraising exercise backed by Qatari investors in 2008, as the global financial crisis bit.