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Iran could soon extend its burgeoning defence ties with Russia by providing fast attack craft for Russian naval forces to use in the Black Sea.

UAE state-owned defence group Edge is to push for defence export orders in Latin America, after announcing it is to open an office in Brazil’s federal capital Brasilia in the near future.

Iraq's Kurdish Peshmerga forces continue to be controlled by the KDP and PUK, despite efforts over many years to wrest control away from the region’s two main political parties and hand them over to the non-partisan Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs. The encouragement of foreign governments – who have spent years and significant resources on support and training programmes to modernise and professionalise the Peshmerga – have not yet resulted in meaningful change.

Iran - which has substantial ammunition production capability as a legacy of its 1980-88 war with Iraq - is reportedly sending ammunition to Russia across the Caspian Sea for use in its Ukraine war.

Construction work is underway on a 2,400-metre runway on Abd Al-Kuri, the westernmost island in Yemen's Socotra archipelago, according to recent satellite imagery. Local press reports have said the UAE is behind the project, but there has been no official confirmation of its involvement.

There is hope of peace in Yemen, but a breakthrough between Houthi rebels and Riyadh remains just out of reach, despite extensive talks in Sanaa, where ambassador Mohammed Al-Jaber made the first senior Saudi visit since 2015. However, further talks are due to be held in May, against the backdrop of improving Saudi-Iran relations and a wider regional trend favouring diplomacy over conflict.

The Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF) and the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force (RAF) are to continue operating their joint Typhoon squadron for a further two years, based at RAF Coningsby in the UK.

Russian and Chinese vessels joined their Iranian counterparts in a naval exercise off Chah Bahar in the Gulf of Oman in mid-March. After two days of air defence and anti-hijacking drills, the exercise concluded with a fleet review on 19 March.

The United States Naval Forces Central Command (Navcent) held the 18-day International Maritime Exercise 23 (IMX23) in late February and early March, with an opening ceremony for the operational phase held at US 5th Fleet’s headquarters in Bahrain.

Iran has unveiled a new cruise missile, named the Paveh, which, with a claimed range of 1,650km, could easily reach Israel.

The Qatar Emiri Naval Forces (QENF) launched its coastal missile defence system at the Umm Al-Houl naval base late February. In September 2016, Qatar signed a deal with European defence group MBDA for a coastal defence system using the extended range version of the Marte missile and Exocet MM40 Block 3 missile.

French naval forces seized more than 3,000 assault rifles, 578,000 rounds of ammunition and 23 advanced anti-tank guided missiles in the Gulf of Oman mid-January. The action was announced by US Central Command in February, which said it happened “along routes historically used to traffic weapons unlawfully from Iran to Yemen”.

Having successfully expelled forces linked to the Al-Islah Party from Yemen’s oil-rich Shabwa province in 2022, pro-Southern Transition Council (STC) groups are now aiming to remove the last remnants of fighters from the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated group from Wadi Hadramawt – a strategically-important 640km-long valley at the centre of Hadramawt province.

The Royal Saudi Naval Force (RSNF) handed over the command of the Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) to the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN) in January, in a ceremony at the US naval base in Bahrain. RN Captain James Byron has taken over from the RSNF's Rear Admiral Abdullah Bin Miteb Al-Mutairi.

A number of Kilo-class submarines were seen during Exercise Zulfaqar 1401, held by the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (Nedaja) in early January, following a period when all of the boats had been out of service.