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Canada and Saudi Arabia announced that they had agreed to resume full diplomatic relations and appoint ambassadors to each other’s capitals. The move followed discussions between Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of last November’s Apec forum in Bangkok.

Bahrain said it would send an ambassador back to Lebanon, after a break of some 19 months. Manama had withdrawn its envoy in October 2021, in response to comments by Lebanese information minister George Kordahi in which he was highly critical of the Saudi-led war in Yemen.

The UAE government said it was changing the name of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation to the simpler Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). No reason was given for the name change. 

Iran freed Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele in exchange for the release of Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi from jail in Belgium, in a deal arranged by Oman. The two men first travelled to Muscat before heading on to their respective home countries.

Iran has appointed Alireza Enayati as its ambassador to Saudi Arabia, following the China-brokered rapprochement between the two Gulf powers in March. Enayati previously served as ambassador to Kuwait, from 2014 to 2019.

Former Italian foreign affairs minister Luigi di Maio was named as the European Union’s special representative for the Gulf region. Critics have questioned his suitability for the role, given the difficulties in Italian-Gulf relations when he was foreign minister.

Rashed Al-Makhawi, a former UAE ambassador to Germany, has lost a case in London's High Court in which Emirates NBD bank was seeking to enforce a $57.5m judgement against him made by the Dubai courts.

Iran released Frenchman Benjamin Briere and French/Irish national Bernard Phelan from prison, describing it as a goodwill gesture. But it executed Swedish-Iranian national Habib Chaab, drawing condemnation from the EU.

Stephen Peter Day was a committed Arabist, while also being a guardian of British national interests – positions the diplomat, who has died aged 85, saw as complementary rather than incompatible. His conflicts could be with elements of the British establishment rather than with foreign governments, groups and individuals with whom he engaged with ease.

Iran officially welcomed Syria’s return to the League of Arab States, but the eagerness with which Damascus is accepting the renewed Arab hospitality may be a cause for concern in Tehran, which has been one of the Assad regime’s few consistent supporters throughout the civil war.

Manama has agreed to establish diplomatic relations with two Pacific Island countries, Samoa and Nauru, in late April and May.

Algerian foreign affairs and national community abroad minister Ahmed Attaf arrived in the Saudi city of Jeddah on 15 May for bilateral talks and preparations for the planned League of Arab States summit, to be held on 19 May.

Iraq has been hosting reconciliation talks between Iranian and Egyptian officials which should lead to the reestablishment of diplomatic relations "in the near future".

Almost 5,000 people have been evacuated from Sudan to Saudi Arabia since fighting broke out between rival generals in Khartoum on 15 April, the vast majority of them citizens of other countries.

Sheikha Al-Zain Al-Sabah submitted her credentials as Kuwait's ambassador to the United States during a meeting with President Joe Biden in April. She is Kuwait's first female ambassador in Washington.