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The Guardian Council has barred former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, an ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, from standing in June polls. The list of approved candidates suggests Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is determined to see a hardline in power

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There was plenty of hype, but a pair of summits organised at short notice by Saudi Arabia as the holy month of Ramadan was coming to a close failed to foster any sense of unity among the regional actors. Instead the gatherings have served to highlight the region’s many divisions; a series of petty snubs and undiplomatic arguments before and after the Mecca summits suggest there is little prospect of the situation improving in the short-term.

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Political reform still looks far off – and few yet dare to discuss it openly. But almost everything else is on the agenda as Saudis push the limits of their freedom for argument and the Kingdom prepares to celebrate King Abdullah’s five years in power

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Crown Prince Salman has been given a government post, a move that institutionalises his political status and raises hopes he might foster an atmosphere more conducive to reform. His appointment comes at a time of growing divisions within the ruling Al-Khalifa

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Rumours about Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al-Said’s health and imminent death had become a staple of political analysis about Oman and the wider region, reflecting his longstanding position as an essential mediator in Middle Eastern conflicts, as well as the architect of his nation’s emergence from a conflicted and backward-looking past. Close observers said that, by mid-December, the 79-year-old sultan had abandoned a planned programme of medical treatment in Leuven, Belgium, knowing it would be futile. While widely predicted, his death on 10 January nonetheless came as a profound shock to the nation he had not only ruled but profoundly shaped since 1970, and whose political life he had dominated as an absolute ruler (see Perspective for GSN’s appreciation of this remarkable life).

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Saudi officials are trying to put the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi behind them, with a new initiative to kick-start inward investment and a range of soft power initiatives. But while the stellar turn-out of sporting stars, entertainers and business leaders arriving in the kingdom suggests that – rather predictably – many supports for Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS)’s Vision 2030 agenda see it is business as usual, Riyadh continues to struggle to address criticism of its record on human rights and financial abuses.

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It was already clear ahead of the 13-14 May US-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit that Gulf leaders were not going to come away with the written accord they desired, assuring them of US protection against an Iranian threat they fear will intensify if world powers go ahead and sign a nuclear deal with Tehran. A US official briefing journalists after an 8 May preparatory meeting of foreign ministers in Paris said the Gulf states had been told “weeks ago” that a formal treaty was not possible, and that, “whether they were disappointed or not”, it was something they had taken on board.

Issue 910 - 15 October 2011

Al-Thani family tree

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Published in October 2011, this family tree shows the Qatari route of succession from Sheikh Jassim (1876-1913) through to the present day. It was originally published in Issue 910 alongside a profile of heir apparent Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani.

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With its evolving role in Iraqi politics and strong oil and financial market positioning, Iran has more cards in its hand than western governments may care to admit. So far the United States and its allies are refusing to blink in the nuclear standoff, but as markets take stock of the latest Iranian crisis, Tehran may just have enough muscle to tough it out, hurting major trade finance markets in the process.

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Ameeting of regional defence chiefs in Kuwait on 12-13 September was a rare occasion when senior Qatari officials found themselves around a table with their erstwhile allies from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, along with the more neutral Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) members, Kuwait and Oman. The event highlighted the aim of the Trump administration and hawkish GCC leaders to articulate a common front, most notably against Iran at a time when US sanctions are posing a major threat to its centrist President Hassan Rouhani. But that desire for unity is proving hard to achieve.

Issue 1000 - 18 September 2015

Oman: Al-Said family tree

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Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al-Said’s return to Oman in March 2015 after a long absence for health care in Germany (since the previous July) was a major event in the sultanate, reflecting his central role in the decades since he unseated his father, Said Bin Taimur, in 1970. Qaboos is now by far the longest-serving ruler in the Gulf Co-operation Council, adding to intimations of mortality for a ruler who has formally accumulated most of the high offices of state.

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With the provincial elections successfully and peacefully out of the way, Nouri Al-Maliki’s Daawa Party appears stronger, and Iraq appears more stable than at any time since the invasion. But the advances are fragile, with fundamental tensions unresolved and the task of developing the country’s oil wealth facing mounting complications.

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On 4 March, Swiss-registered engineering firm Foster Wheeler announced that it had won the initial design contract for a new onshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) import and regasification terminal for the Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC). The award, which follows feasibility studies for the new terminal, underlines Kuwait’s persistent failure to develop domestic resources, and seems to bury Kuwait’s hopes of securing a regional supply of gas to meet soaring demand.

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The UAE’s commitment to broadcasting its now overt relationship with Israel has seen cabinet ministers holding phone calls with their Israeli counterparts, the formal scrapping of the boycott of Israel on 29 August and an El Al plane landing at Abu Dhabi International Airport on 31 August carrying a delegation including US President Donald Trump’s senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner and Israel’s National Security Council leader Meir Ben-Shabbat.

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This family tree illustrates the succession path of Dubai's ruling family through the two main branches of  the Maktoum family that descend from Sheikh Maktoum II (r.1894-1906). Alongside the main graphic there are brief profile notes on the key figures, while a short article provides background to the lines of succession and appointments of note.  

United Arab Emirates (UAE)