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Economy & Business

A pumpjack stands idle in the Huntington Beach oil field, with port cranes visible in the distance, on April 23, 2026, in Huntington Beach, California.

Oil surges past $120 to war-time high as Trump rejects Iran overture

Benchmark Brent crude surpassed $120 per barrel on Wednesday, reaching the highest levels yet seen during the US-Israel-Iran war.

An Iraqi money dealer counts Iranian rial banknotes bearing a portrait of the late founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, at an exchange office in Baghdad on Feb. 3, 2012.

Iranian rial hits new record low as blockade, war take toll: What to know

The rial had another collapse in late 2025, triggering massive protests and riots in the country that were ended by a forceful government crackdown.

GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

UAE’s OPEC exit rattles cartel as Gulf alliances shift

OPEC's fourth-largest producer will leave the cartel on May 1, marking the most significant departure in the group’s history as the war changes Abu Dhabi's relationship priorities.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

MUMEN KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images

Why UAE's decision to leave OPEC is major shift for cartel

The UAE accounts for 12% of OPEC's output, but tensions had been simmering over intragroup rivalries and the country wanting to export more oil.

United Arab Emirates

Latest News

First LNG tanker transits Strait of Hormuz since Iran war began

Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP via Getty Images

Pistachios reach highest prices in eight years amid Iran war

An Iranian grocer sells pistachios imported from Iran at a Persian products shop in the Gulf emirate of Dubai on July 10, 2019. (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP) (Photo credit should read KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

UAE’s cash request tests US ties as Iran war strains Gulf financial muscle

A view of Dubai Marina in Dubai on March 3, 2026.

United Arab Emirates

IEA delivers grim gas supply forecast as oil notches 15% weekly rise

A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker is moored at a LNG berth in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, prefecture April 8, 2026.

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Jack Dutton

Chief Business Correspondent

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Sabena Siddiqui

In Karachi, reporting on South Asia, Middle East, Iran

Vanessa Ghanem

In Dubai, reporting on business, energy and politics

Francisco Serrano

In Lisbon, reporting on North Africa business

Vacher

Analysis

Ball now in Tunisia's court regarding $1.9bn IMF bailout

Officials from the IMF, the World Bank and Italy have all commented on the proposed bailout package this week as a Tunisian delegation joins the spring meeting of the multilateral institutions in Washington.

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

A view of a desalination plant in the Omani port city of Sur, south of the capital Muscat, on Nov. 27, 2019.

Oman activates first floating desalination plant

The mobile desalination plants are meant to service 70 seaport villages and are the first of their kind in the Arab world.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan in Saint Petersburg on Oct. 11, 2022.

UAE will not ‘jeopardize’ rules to attract Russian wealth: Trade minister

The Emirates has been criticized for hosting companies engaged in sanctions-busting following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but is making efforts to clean up its act.

A man pulls a cart loaded with boxes in Tehran on February 21, 2023. - Iran's currency plunged to new lows on January 20 amid fresh European Union sanctions, crossing the psychologically important rate of 500,000 rials to a dollar in foreign exchange markets. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

China’s growing role in Middle East won’t solve Iran’s economic woes

Bijan Khajehpour

Bijan Khajehpour

In Vienna, reporting on Iranian politics

Atul Gupta

South Africa to appeal UAE ruling against extradition of Gupta brothers

The UAE said on April 7 that South Africa's extradition request did not meet legal documentation standards and that the two brothers wanted for money laundering and fraud would be released from custody.

A farmer waters potted pineapple plants at a greenhouse in al-Awir desert in the Gulf emirate of Dubai on July 7, 2022. (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP) (Photo by KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

UAE bets on agtech to meet food security targets ahead of COP28

The UAE had the strongest food security in the region last year. Focusing on agtech is helping it achieve local food production goals.

Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Etihad Airways

Two Etihad Airways ads banned in UK over greenwashing claims

The Gulf carrier was accused of exaggerating climate claims by the British Advertising Standards Agency.

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

Middle East debt issuances nearly triple in Q1 2023 as Saudis take lead

In Q1 of 2023, Saudi Arabia was the leading debt issuer in the MENA region.

IVAN PISARENKO/AFP via Getty Images

China’s Sinopec acquires stake in Qatar gas project

Chinese energy firms are increasingly cooperating with their Qatari and Saudi counterparts as the People’s Republic makes further inroads into the region.

Algeria oil field

Sonatrach announces six new oil discoveries in Algeria

The state-owned oil company made several discoveries in the first quarter of this year.

A painted Turkish national flag is seen on the wall of a collapsed building, two months after a 7.8-magnitude jolt and its aftershocks wiped out swathes of Turkey's mountainous southeast, in Antakya on April 5, 2023. - Many of the survivors blamed the government and its stuttering response to Turkey's worst disaster of its modern era for a death toll that has now surpassed 50,000. But that fury is gradually giving way to a mixture of fatalism and reviving trust in the man this province gave three-fourths of

Turkey's industries see biggest decline since 2020 in quake aftermath

Production output fell by 8.2% annually in February, the same month the earthquakes wreaked havoc on the country, according to new data.

Analysis

Experts pour cold water on Tunisia BRICS ‘bid,’ as country rejects IMF

Experts say economic reforms and stronger anti-Western credentials are needed before the North African country could be seriously considered to join the five-member bloc.

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech