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Secretary of state Mike Pompeo embarked on a nine-country tour on 8 January, designed to reassure allies about US commitment to the region following the surprise decision by Donald Trump by pull US troops out of Syria and the abrupt resignation of defence secretary General James Mattis in December. Jordan and Egypt were the first stops, followed by Iraq on 9 January and then visits to all six Gulf Co-operation Council states. The visits to Qatar and Kuwait were due to include bilateral strategic dialogues with those countries.

The Thai government has received unwelcome publicity – and has been drawn into the internal politics of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia – in two separate incidents which have been highlighted by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and other international advocacy groups. In late November, Hakeem Al-Araibi, a footballer who has refugee status in Australia, was arrested on an Interpol notice issued by Bahrain while holidaying in Thailand with his wife.

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation reopened its embassy in Damascus on 27 December, some seven years after it was shuttered. The mission is headed by chargé d’affaires Abdul Hakim Naimi. The move has been seen as an attempt to counter the influence of Iran and Turkey in Syria; it has been widely noted that the announcement came at a time when President Bashir Al-Assad appears to have gained the initiative in the civil war.

Pope Francis is to visit the UAE on 3-5 February in the latest sign of how some Gulf countries are gradually stepping up their interactions with other world religions. The visit is being made at the invitation of Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and UAE Armed Forces deputy supreme commander Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.

Prime minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah held talks with his Libyan counterpart Fayez El Sarraj at Bayan Palace on 5 December, during the Government of National Accord leader’s two-day official visit. Sarraj also held meetings with Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development director Abdelatif Yousef Al-Hamad and Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development director-general Abdulwahab Al-Bader.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has advised Iranian nationals to avoid travelling to Georgia, in light of the Tbilisi government’s reported moves to prevent some Iranians from entering the country. MFA spokesman Bahram Qassemi has claimed as many as 200 Iranians have been barred from entering Georgia in recent days, although he acknowledged some did not have the right travel documents.

The death on 30 November of George HW Bush, 41st president of the United States, prompted some heartfelt expressions of sympathy from Gulf leaders, particularly in Kuwait and Iraqi Kurdistan. Images of Bush and the American flag were displayed on the iconic Kuwait Towers on the day he died. In a letter to Bush’s son, Potus 43 George W Bush, Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah said “we have lost a dear friend… the Kuwaiti people will never forget him as a supporter of justice.”

The European Union is to open an official delegation in Kuwait City at some point in 2019. The European Commission’s high representative for foreign affairs Federica Mogherini said on 5 December that the move would “allow us to further step up our political, economic and sectoral engagement.

Foreign affairs and international cooperation minister Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan held a meeting with his Albanian counterpart Ditmir Bushati in Abu Dhabi on 17 November. The two men discussed bilateral ties and, according to the official readout from the UAE, “exchanged views on regional and international developments of mutual concern”. They also signed a memorandum of understanding on political consultation between the two countries.

Minister of state and advisor to King Salman Prince Mansour Bin Miteb Bin Abdelaziz landed at Velana International airport in the Maldives on 16 November to represent Saudi Arabia at President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s inauguration the following day.

Newly appointed President Barham Saleh has been on a brief tour of Gulf capitals in a bid to shore up regional support for an administration built on shaky foundations. His first stop was Kuwait City where Saleh held talks with Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and prime minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah on 11 November and handed over some Kuwaiti property Iraq had taken during the 1990 invasion.

Tehran has been pushing Pakistan to find 12 border guards kidnapped near the border in Sistan and Baluchestan province on 15 October. The men were members of the Basij militia and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). IRGC ground forces commander Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour arrived in Islamabad on 22 October to discuss with Pakistani authorities what actions were being taken to secure the release of the men.

The fallout from journalist-in-exile Jamal Khashoggi’s murder is forcing governments to reassess other facets of Saudi action on the international stage, including last summer’s sustained diplomatic attack on Canada, which was portrayed as an over-wrought response to official tweets criticising the human rights situation in the kingdom.

Iran and the four other countries bordering the Caspian Sea are to discuss the delineation of their territorial waters in Baku in November. Azeri foreign minister Elmar Mammadyarov said the meeting would be held at deputy foreign minister level, and would discuss a method of establishing direct baselines in the Caspian Sea to determine the territorial waters of the five coastal countries.

The first meeting of the Chabahar Agreement’s Co-ordination Council – intended to support the trilateral deal between Iran, India and Afghanistan signed in May 2016 – took place in Tehran on 22 October. It was a relatively junior level affair, with the Iranian and Afghan delegations led by deputy transport ministers and the Indian team led by a secretary of economic relations in the Ministry of External Affairs.