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A conservative member of the National Assembly, Jassim Al-Saidi, has accused Shia opposition party Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society of meddling in internal Yemeni affairs.

The type of deal that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki must make to retain power is illustrated by the traumatic endgame of negotiations between the UK and Iraqi governments and a militant Shia splinter group called Asaib Ahl Al-Haq (Leagues of the Righteous) over the release of British hostage Peter Moore. Asaib split from the Jeish Al-Mahdi after Muqtada Al-Sadr called his ceasefire in August 2007. The US military believes the group is backed by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Al-Quds force, whose leader Qais Al-Ghazali is in US custody.

Tough judicial and security interventions undermine King Abdullah’s overtures to Shias and Ismailis as Prince Nayef and his allies grow more assertive

The Sultan’s decision to visit Iran during President Ahmadinejad’s inauguration shows that Oman remains a significant player in the region, able to balance strong relations with the West with an open approach to Tehran. And the purchase of 24 Eurofighter Typhoons shows it has a tougher mindset, too.

With its exiled honorary ‘president’ Ali Salem Al-Baydh acting as a figurehead, Yemen’s secessionist Southern Movement is headed on the ground by Hassan Baoom,

Rumour and uncertainty continue to plague the high-profile former envoy to Washington. Controversy over the whereabouts of former Saudi ambassador to the United States Prince Bandar Bin Sultan Bin Abdelaziz has been reignited by comments made on Iran’s Al-Alam TV by the exiled Islamist oppositionist Saad Al-Fagih.

Accusations of election-rigging marred the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)’s parliamentary and presidential elections, in which northern Iraq’s first credible democratic opposition emerged. According to preliminary results from the 25 July polls, the Kurdistan List, a coalition of the dominant Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), won an absolute majority in the regional parliament, while regional president and KDP leader Massoud Barzani won 69.57% in the first direct election for the post.

Recent allegations in regional media – perhaps encouraged by senior officials in their host countries – of serious political shake-ups in the military establishment and ruling family – suggest all is not well in Qatar’s regional relations, even after a year when Doha has made serious efforts to mend fences with Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani and Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani (HBJ) travelled in late July to Morocco to visit Saudi Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdelaziz.

The wily president will need all his political skills to find a way out of the present crisis, but with national unity in jeopardy Ali Abdullah Saleh seems in no mood to compromise on major issues, and jails across Yemen are filling up

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s inauguration marked an inauspicious beginning of his second term in office, as political divisions within the ruling elite continued to deepen, to the extent that forming a new cabinet could prove difficult for the embattled head of government. Until 12 June apparently the master of his political arena, Ahmadinejad now seems unable to do anything right – as was underlined last month when he caused outrage among conservative ranks by appointing Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie as first vice president, a nepotistic move which further diminished his already damaged authority.

Oman has reduced the chance of conflict with Iran in the tight confines of the Strait of Hormuz through a policy of engagement, committed defence diplomacy and other confidence-building measures. It regards maintaining defences as an effective way of levering diplomatic efforts and forcing Iran to respect the Sultanate (see GSN view). In 1980, Omani and Iranian naval forces faced off in shows of force,

The Al-Houthis' threat to a united Yemeni state is less well articulated than the Southern Movement's challenge to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, but it remains a major thorn in Sanaa's flesh. In spite of Qatari and domestic

Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al-Saeed’s three-day official visit to Iran has cemented decades of steady relations between the troubled Islamic Republic and Oman, for long seen as a moderate and sensible state whose good offices are valued by international partners. The visit, the Sultan’s first since Shah Reza Pahlavi’s fall in 1979, has highlighted the importance that Muscat attributes to maintaining steady relations with its large and powerful neighbour.

Timothy Geithner’s first visit to Saudi Arabia and the UAE since becoming US Treasury Secretary highlighted again the important role Gulf Co-operation Council governments play in the global economy, and the fact that the strategic alliances between the United States and GCC polities have been central to maintaining the regional status quo. Not only are all the GCC economies, except for Kuwait, pegged to the dollar, but they are also the largest foreign investors in US stocks.

Tribal politics tends to alienate many Kuwaitis, but the emirate's campaign to stop tribes from holding primary contests ahead of the recent legislative election is being undermined by Saudi indulgence of such practices. Unofficial Saudi sources report that Kuwaiti tribes evaded the law against holding primaries to select