Economy & Business - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Business and Economy Cover Image

Economy & Business

Meysam MIRZADEH / TASNIM NEWS / AFP via Getty Images

Breaking | Last Updated: May 4, 2026, 12:41 pm

Iran strikes UAE’s Fujairah oil hub as US pushes Hormuz reopening

The United States launched an initiative to restart commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday as the UAE braced for fallout amid new missile and drone attacks.

United Arab Emirates

Crops of wheat and barley in Terbol village on May 10, 2022, in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.

Analysis

MENA wheat importers face food security risks as Hormuz crisis festers

Home to many of the world's largest wheat importers, the Middle East and North Africa face acute food security risks as the US-Israel-Iran war disrupts global fertilizer flows and pushes up prices.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Haitham AL-SHUKAIRI / AFP via Getty Images

Oman enters Gulf AI race with new special economic zone in Muscat

Oman will create an AI-focused special economic zone in Muscat governorate.

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.

Latest News

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

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.

Analysis

UAE’s OPEC exit rattles cartel as Gulf alliances shift

GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

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

MUMEN KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images

United Arab Emirates

First LNG tanker transits Strait of Hormuz since Iran war began

Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP via Getty Images

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

NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey looks to import gas from Turkmenistan, test exports to Bulgaria

Turkey and Turkmenistan are working on a gas deal that will likely extend to Europe in a bid to reduce Western dependency on Russian gas.

A general view taken on January 6, 2015, shows the Mellitah Oil and Gas terminal on the outskirts of Zwara in western Libya.

Reports: Libya denies cutting gas exports to Italy

Italy wants Libya to boost its gas exports to Europe in an effort to reduce the continent’s energy dependence on Russia.

A general view of Saudi Aramco's Abqaiq oil processing plant on September 20, 2019. - Saudi Arabia said on September 17 its oil output will return to normal by the end of September, seeking to soothe rattled energy markets after attacks on two instillations that slashed its production by half. The strikes on Abqaiq - the world's largest oil processing facility - and the Khurais oil field in eastern Saudi Arabia roiled energy markets and revived fears of a conflict in the tinderbox Gulf region. (Photo by Fay

Middle East poised for breakthrough in European energy markets

Gerald Kepes

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional energy trends

An army cadet looks through the window of a bus parked outside Sri Lanka's presidential palace in Colombo.

Flydubai suspends flights to Sri Lanka as Emirates, Etihad keep flying

Sri Lanka is experiencing mass unrest over its deteriorating economic situation.

Iran economy

Unprecedented inflation hammers Iran

Iranians have grown accustomed to high inflation and rising prices, yet recent macroeconomic trends are unprecedented.

TOPSHOT - Lebanese wait to fill their gas cylinders in the southern city of Sidon amidst a deepening economic crisis, on August 10, 2021 - Lebanese lined up in long queues to stock up on cooking gas following warnings of imminent shortages, as an economic crisis eats away at supplies of basic imports.Lebanon, grappling with an economic crisis branded by the World Bank as one of the planet's worse since the mid-19th century, has been hit in recent months by a wave of shortages of basic items from medicine to

Lebanese cook over wood as high gas prices persist

Desperation is one of the few commodities Lebanon does not lack as the financial burden of securing necessities such as cooking gas grows heavier.

Beirut airport

Passenger traffic increases in Beirut airport

The Lebanese government is banking on Lebanese abroad to visit the country and spend money amid the continued economic crisis.

Workers sort oranges at the MAFA farms pack house on January 31, 2021 in Cairo, Egypt.

Egypt’s monthly inflation falls for first time in 2022

The Central Bank of Egypt declined to raise interest rates again last month. Annual inflation is still up from last year.

Flags are set up during Israel's Negev Summit attended by the US Secretary of State, alongside Foreign Ministers of Israel, Egypt, Bahrain, the UAE, and Morocco, at Sde Boker in the southern Negev desert on March 28, 2022. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel likely to see accelerated capital influx, especially from new regional alliances

Daniel Frankenstein

Daniel Frankenstein

AD Ports signed a joint venture agreement with SEG, one of the largest oil and gas companies in Uzbekistan.

Emirati port operator, Uzbek oil company to open trade hub, cooperate on freight

Other Middle Eastern states are also seeking better economic relations with Central Asia.

Kurdish oil

Oil services companies stop work in Iraqi Kurdistan after court ruling

Iraq’s supreme court recently ruled that the autonomous part of northern Iraq cannot conduct oil deals independent of the federal government, resulting in significant tension.

Dubai skyline

UAE signs free trade agreement with Indonesia after deals with India, Israel

The UAE has a similar deal in the works with a South American country next.