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The eighth government reshuffle under Emir Tamim Al-Thani sees minister of state for defence affairs Khalid Al-Attiyah ending his long government career. There have also been changes in the leadership of the Emiri Diwan, the Qatar Investment Authority and the State Security Agency. GSN takes a closer look at the changes.

Since the early summer there have been several meetings between senior Abu Dhabi and Qatari officials, reflecting their shared foreign policy concerns and increased economic co-operation. But the UAE seems to view the rapprochement more favourably.

King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa has emphasised the need to continue pursuing the government’s Economic Vision 2030. At the recent inauguration of the third session of the sixth legislative term of the Shura Council and the Council of Representatives he told the assembled parliamentarians that work should also be “accelerated on its next version for the year 2050.” On the regional front, Bahrain has been continuing to try and improve relations with Tehran. King Hamad hosting Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi for talks at Al-Sakhir Palace on 21 October.

Gulf rulers welcomed a familiar, if neither always firm nor predictable friend’s victory over the widely mistrusted Biden administration to regain the White House. Plenty of questions remain about what a second Trump term might mean for the Gulf economies and for regional security, and the ‘transactional’ populist’s impulsive approach to policy means it is unlikely to be a smooth ride even for his allies. Trump II could further accelerate trends apparent in recent years, of Gulf states pivoting towards Asia and making ever more assertive expressions of national interest, if still under an American defensive umbrella.

After taking office in December 2023, Sheikh Mishaal Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah promised significant reforms to shake up Kuwait’s political and economic systems, but the emir has made little apparent impact during his first year in power, other than suspending parliament and clamping down on critics.

Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani was elected speaker of Iraq’s Council of Representatives in late October, almost a year after his predecessor was removed by the courts. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mohammad Al-Sudani has had to reshuffle several cabinet posts and is faced with a potentially explosive wiretapping scandal.

Qataris went to the ballot box on 5 November to partake in a referendum which would end future elections to the Shura Council and instead give the emir the power to appoint all members of the chamber. Interior minister and General Referendum Committee chairman Sheikh Khalifa Bin Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani announced the following day that turnout had been 84% of eligible citizens, with 89% voting in favour of the constitutional amendments, 9.2% voting against and 1.8% of the votes deemed invalid.

Tehran has launched a housing development on Abu Musa and floated plans for tourism developments on the island, which is part of a trio of islands controlled by Iran but claimed by the UAE. On nearby Greater Tunb, a power plant has also been brought back online after a four-year hiatus.

In a move that points to continued turbulence in the executive, Kuwait Emir Sheikh Mishaal Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah appointed Tareq Suleiman Ahmed Al-Roumi as oil minister in late October. Sheikh Mishaal also appointed Jalal Sayed Abdulmuhsin Al-Tabtabei as education minister, replacing Adel Mohammed Al-Adwani.

Emir Sheikh Mishaal Al-Ahmed’s fourth son Sheikh Jaber has married another Al-Sabah, Sheikha Noor Bint Talal Al-Sabah.

Crown Prince Sheikh Khalid Bin Mohammed has mixed international visits with charitable and sports events, and supporting tech start-ups, in a typically busy month for a senior member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling Al-Nahyan family.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party secured a solid win in the KRI’s long-waited 20 October vote, winning 39 seats against the 23 secured by its main challenger, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. In a toxic atmosphere the two rivals  now have to hammer out a deal to form the next Kurdistan Regional Government – a process that took ten months last time around.

The Brics summit hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin allowed the first meeting between Iran and the UAE since they became full members of the emerging economies’ bloc in January. The conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon were high up the agenda as the Russian city of Kazan hosted an event that allowed emerging economies to show off their potential as an eventual alternative to western economic dominance – and the dollar economy – but above all it allowed Putin to bask in the glow of peer group recognition, ahead of the US election, while his war in Ukraine rages on.

Fahd Bin Nawwaf’s role in the electric vehicle partnership between the local Saleh Suleiman Al-Rajhi & Sons and Taiwan’s Foxconn Interconnect Technology is not clear, but the prince has a track record in the EV sector.

Saudi government-owned broadcaster MBC has found itself in hot water, after running a report which described recently-killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar as a ‘new face of terrorism’. Media regulators in Saudi Arabia are looking into the matter, while the authorities in Baghdad have shut down its local office and started the process of revoking its licence.