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Securing workable energy, economic and security relations with Turkey has even greater urgency for Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government as the KRG says it can no longer afford to pay its employees’ salaries due to the closure since late March of the vital crude oil export pipeline.

To the chagrin of GCC leaders and some others, the UK continues to resist pressure to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp as a terrorist organisation, even as it unveils plans for more far-reaching sanctions on Iran.

Saudi Arabia is trying to leverage its burgeoning relationship with China to further its aims in Yemen. And Chinese officials have expressed some interest in getting involved. However, the UAE views the idea of greater Chinese involvement as an attempt to undermine its position.

Former senior Parastin intelligence agency officer Brigadier General Mohammed Mirza Sindi was killed in Zakho, Iraq's Dohuk governorate, when the car he was travelling in exploded. Parastin has close links to the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Kuwait's education minister Hamad Al-Adwani resigned, reportedly due to a lack of official support for his reform plans in the face of opposition from members of the National Assembly (parliament). Adwani was the second cabinet member to quit in July, following the resignation of finance minister Manaf Al-Hajeri earlier in the month .

Iraq's geopolitical landscape will change, if only marginally, when Halabja becomes a full governorate, as expected in the near future. The area –site of a devastating chemical weapons attack by Saddam Hussein’s regime in 1988 – is already recognised as a governorate by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), but equivalent federal recognition has, until now, eluded Halabja.

The UAE and some other GCC governments have proved enthusiastic friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime, running counter to western allies' efforts to isolate the Kremlin. Adding to suspicions that deep ties may go well beyond diverse energy and business relations, several dozen flights by cargo aircraft between a military air base in Abu Dhabi and a remote air strip in eastern Chad have provoked considerable speculation about UAE relations with Moscow and its proxies.

Kuwait's finance minister Manaf Al-Hajeri resigned on 11 July, less than a month after his appointment to Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmed Nawaf Al-Sabah’s cabinet, reportedly in protest at the decision to move responsibility for the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) over to minister of state for economic affairs and investment Saad Al-Barrak, who also serves as oil minister.

Iran has been flexing its muscles in oil and gas disputes with its Arab neighbours, in what could be an attempt to ensure the recent trend towards rapprochement with regional and international powers happens on its terms. But factional disputes within the Iranian elite may also be playing a role, as rivals in Tehran try to ensure their vested interests aren’t damaged.

A private jet usually associated with former Russian president and now National Security Council deputy chairman Dmitri Medvedev made an unexplained visit to Muscat in the wake of the 23-24 June abortive Wagner Group coup.

Saudi Arabia is dedicating more attention to southern Yemen, even as it continues efforts to secure a peace agreement with the Houthis in the north. A key aim for Riyadh is ensuring Yemen remains unified. However, this strategy means Saudi allies continue to clash with the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), which is pushing for independence.

Candidates vying for a seat in the UAE's Federal National Council will be able to spend up to AED3m ($816,000) in the run-up to voting on 4-7 October, after the National Election Committee (NEC) raised the campaign spending limit from the previous AED2m. In previous elections to the advisory body, most candidates have spent well below the threshold.

Voter turnout for Qatar's Central Municipal Council (CMC) election on 22 June was the lowest in 20 years, with just 40.7% of those eligible to vote taking part.

The launch of the Saudi-backed Hadhramaut National Council on 19 June has underlined fears that Yemen could break up into three distinct areas, with the Houthis controlling Sanaa and other parts of the north, while the rest of the country is divided between the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council and other groups supported by Saudi Arabia.

Ras Al-Khaimah (RAK) Ruler Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al-Qasimi has continued a recent spate of international travel, leading the UAE delegation to the St Petersburg International Economic Forum in Russia mid-June on behalf of President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nayhan (MBZ) – despite the fact that MBZ himself was also at the event.