Search results

Just 28.75m people voted in the 18 June election, representing a turnout of just 48.5%. It was the first time in the Islamic Republic’s history that a minority of voters took part in a presidential election. The previous record low was set in 1993, when 51% of eligible voters cast a ballot in an election which ushered in a second term for President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has signed an agreement with India’s Reliance Industries to develop a world-scale chloralkali (used in water treatment and the manufacture of textiles and metals), ethylene dichloride and PVC production facility at Ruwais.

The recently-established North American Camel Ranches Owners Association has thanked International Camel Organisation founder and president Sheikh Fahd Bin Falah Bin Hithlain for his help in setting up the new group. Sheikh Fahd is thought to be a second cousin of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) via MBS’s mother Fahda Bint Falah Al-Hathlain.

 The Ramlat Khelah border crossing could prove a significant development. Customs and immigration facilities and a road linking the frontier to the Omani highway network at Ibri have been ready for some time. However, delays have been caused on the Saudi side by the technical difficulties of building a road through the Empty Quarter’s shifting sands. As of 7 July, the road on the Saudi side appears to have been completed, albeit buried in sand on some sections, but tarmac has not yet been laid on a 300-metre stretch straddling the border.

The Kuwaiti government continues to crack down on dissenting voices, amid the political crisis in which Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is absent and MPs continue to clash with the executive. The latest episode came when prominent Kuwaiti poet and businessman Jamal Al-Sayer was detained on 5 July over comments he had made on his widely-followed Twitter account.

Lebanon’s Hizbollah has embarked on a more assertive stance towards the Gulf states, targeting the UAE and Bahrain over their normalisation with Israel. The Iran-backed group has been using Lebanon’s laws criminalising contact with Israelis (including Israeli companies) to attack the Abraham Accords signed between the UAE, Bahrain and Israel in 2020.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran – also known as the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) – began its annual conference on 10 July, drawing a crowded line-up of international speakers. While many critics now view the MEK as little more than an Albanian-based violent cult led by Maryam Rajavi, its online event attracted contributors including former United States secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who argued the Trump administration’s policy of sanctions and “maximum pressure” against Tehran should continue.

Deputy foreign minister for international and legal affairs Mohsen Baharvand took over as Iran’s ambassador to London on 6 July.

Gulf allies were in attendance to watch Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El Sisi inaugurate the 3 July Naval Base at Ras Gargoub, 140km east of the Egypt-Libya border on July.

The United States State Department on 1 July approved a request from Kuwait to buy $445m worth of heavy tactical vehicles, along with support, spare parts and related equipment. The order covers 517 vehicles including 100 fuel tanker trucks and 188 guided missile transporter trucks to perform resupply missions.

Defence minister Prince Khalid Bin Salman (KBS) Bin Abdelaziz was in Washington in early July for an extensive series of meetings with all the key figures from the Biden administration.

The merger of Saudi banks Samba Capital and National Commercial Bank (NCB) was formally completed on 11 July, with Samba rolled into NCB and the enlarged group adopting the new name of Saudi National Bank.

Shares in Al-Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat) made a strong debut on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) on 14 July, when its share price rose by 13% in early trading before settling back. Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company raised Dh2.7bn ($731m) in the initial public offering (IPO) of the satellite operator, making it the second largest listing on the bourse after Adnoc Distribution’s $851m IPO in 2017.

Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS)’s favoured vehicle for implementing economic change and promoting new-look Saudi values, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) has proved a source of fascination for foreign analysts and consultants as it transitioned from a fusty state investor into the developer of ‘giga-projects’ and much more.

Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdelaziz (MBS) ordered SR3.74m ($997,000) to be handed out to nearly 200 men and women around the kingdom as a marriage subsidy.