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July 6, 2026

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A man walks past the flags of the countries attending the Gulf Cooperation Council summit at Bayan palace in Kuwait City on Dec. 5, 2017.

Analysis

How Iran war shaped divergent paths to security among GCC states

The Iran war left the Gulf more fragmented than united, with competing security strategies replacing any prospect of a common regional defense.

Sabena Siddiqui

By Sabena Siddiqui

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

Oil drilling near Dakhiliyah in the desert region of Hasakah, Syria, Jan. 25, 2026.

Syria launches gas project with Saudi firm in latest Gulf energy partnership

The project is the latest in a series of Gulf-backed investments aimed at rebuilding Syria's energy sector after the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

Crude oil tankers, bulk carriers and vessels sit anchored around Qaboos Port on June 22, 2026, in Muscat, Oman.

Oil falls below $71 as US-Iran talks continue, Gulf exports rebound

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in an X post on Wednesday that Iran and the United States had made "positive progress."

Latest News

Explainer

Saudi FM concludes China visit amid Trump-MBS friction: What to know

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) shakes hands with Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud before a family photo for the attendees of a meeting of foreign ministers from Arab and Muslim-majority nations at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing on November 20, 2023. The international community must take urgent action to stop the "humanitarian disaster" unfolding in Gaza, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told visiting diplomats from Arab and Muslim-majority nations on Novembe

Saudi Arabia's FM heads to China amid differences with US on Iran war

PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images

Interview

Saudi labor localization will take ‘generation or two': Armada CEO

A student attends a training seminar at the Tourism Ministry Training center in the city of Riyadh on August 30, 2022.

Olivier Badard

CEO of Armada Holding

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

Francesco Schiavi

In Bologna, reporting on security, defense, economy, governance

Sabena Siddiqui

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

Vanessa Ghanem

In Dubai, reporting on business, energy and politics

A man looks on as smoke billows from military barracks in the Jabal al-Jumaima mountain following an air strike near Sanaa March 30, 2015. REUTERS/Mohamed al-Sayaghi - RTR4VHP4

Saudi-caused chaos continues in Yemen

The complexities of the Yemeni state will stand in the way of a political settlement that might result from the military intervention launched by Saudi Arabia against the Houthis in Yemen.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan arrives for a welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, March 3, 2015. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR4RUU4

Turkey's misguided Yemen move

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s backing for the Saudi-led camp in the Yemen crisis aims both at an indirect score-settling with Iran and injecting Gulf money into the veins of the troubled Turkish economy.

Saudi King Salman attends the opening meeting of the Arab Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, in the South Sinai governorate, south of Cairo, March 28, 2015. Arab League heads of state are holding a two-day summit to discuss a range of conflicts in the region, including Yemen and Libya, as well as the threat posed by Islamic State militants. REUTERS/Stringer - RTR4V96H

Why did Israel side with Saudi Arabia on Yemen?

Rather than celebrating Saudi Arabia’s attack on Yemen, Israel should feel aversion toward it, since the destabilization of any Arab state can only lead to more and more terrorism and ultimately impacts Israel.

Yemen's former President Ali Abdullah Saleh pauses during an interview with Reuters in Sanaa May 21, 2014. Other Yemeni officials may have looted public funds, but Saleh says he was not one of them and he has challenged his authorities to find one dollar acquired inappropriately and hold him to account. His critics in Yemen, an impoverished country of 25 million where 40 percent of the population live on less than $2 per day, accuse him of embezzling billions of dollars during his 33 years in power. Picture

Yemen's Saleh proves to be a survivor

Former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been central to the Houthis' success in Yemen and may determine the country's future.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal (R) attends near his delegations the foreign ministers of the Arab League meeting ahead of the Arab Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, in the South Sinai governorate, south of Cairo, March 26, 2015. The Arab League on Thursday pledged full support for the Saudi-led campaign against Shi'ite Houthi fighters in Yemen. Its secretary-general, Nabil Elaraby, said the operation was directed against specific Houthi targets based on a request by Yemeni President Abd-Rabb

Riyadh's war on Yemen stokes Saudi nationalism

Saudi Arabia's war on Houthis in Yemen is key to rallying the domestic Saudi populace after the regime's repeated failures to obtain a victory over Iran.

An armed man gestures as he stands on the rubble of houses destroyed by an air strike near Sanaa Airport March 26, 2015. Saudi Arabia and Gulf region allies launched military operations including air strikes in Yemen on Thursday, officials said, to counter Iran-allied forces besieging the southern city of Aden where the U.S.-backed Yemeni president had taken refuge. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah - RTR4UXIA

Saudi Arabia gets bipartisan backing for Yemen airstrikes

Lawmakers are lining up behind the US ally despite fears of another sectarian proxy war.

Civil defence workers and people search for survivors under the rubble of houses destroyed by an air strike near Sanaa Airport March 26, 2015. Saudi Arabia and Gulf region allies launched military operations including air strikes in Yemen on Thursday, officials said, to counter Iran-allied forces besieging the southern city of Aden where the U.S.-backed Yemeni president had taken refuge. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah - RTR4UXDR

Iran condemns Saudi bombing of Yemen

Hard-line Iranian officials have condemned the United States and Saudi Arabia for the bombing in Yemen and have warned of consequences for Saudi Arabia.

Fighters from the Shi'ite Badr Brigade militia stand near their flag as they guard at a checkpoint along a highway recently taken from militants of the Islamic State, outside the town of Sulaiman Pek September 5, 2014. The highway, which continues south to Baghdad, is now controlled by Shi'ite militia fighters and the Kurdish Peshmerga. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTR454AO

Is the Shiite revival here?

Iran's support of religiously motivated forces in the Middle East has been viewed by many as a success while Saudi Arabia has struggled to find find reliable proxies.

Southern Movement militants man a weapon in the Jabal al-Ierr area of Yemen's southern Lahej province, as they prepare to secure the area against Shi'ite Houthi fighters, March 7, 2015. Most of Yemen has been left without state services or authority, and deadly violence is a daily occurrence as Houthis, state security forces, tribesmen, southern separatists and al Qaeda militants clash with each other. REUTERS/Stringer (YEMEN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR4SG0C

Saudi anguish over Iranian gains

The withdrawal of the remaining US military personnel from Yemen only adds to Riyadh's desperation, with Riyadh worried that Washington's priority is a nuclear deal with Tehran, not stopping Iranian subversion in the Arab world.

Saudi Crown Prince Muqrin bin Abdul-Aziz (R) arrives for the opening of the Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) in Sharm el-Sheikh, in the South Sinai governorate, about 550 km (342 miles) south of Cairo, March 13, 2015. Egypt expects to sign agreements worth up to $20 billion at the weekend investment summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, its investment minister said on Friday. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS ROYALS) - RTR4T975

The new Saudi king, Egypt and the MB

Saudi Arabia might be witnessing a slow shift in the region, especially since the new King Salman seems friendlier to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood than his predecessor.

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khaled al-Sabah (L) is escorted by Saudi Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulaziz bin Abdullah upon his arrival to attend the ordinary meeting of the 134th session of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), on March 12, 2015 in Riyadh. The Meeting will discuss developments on Yemen and Syria crisis. AFP PHOTO / FAYEZ NURELDINE (Photo credit should read FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images)

Kuwaiti activists targeted under GCC security pact

Following the signing of the GCC Internal Security Pact, the recent detention of opposition activists in Kuwait highlight a worsening plight for social dissidents across the region.

A protester carries a Bahraini flag as they clash with riot police in the village of Bilad Al Qadeem south of Manama, February 6, 2015.
Protesters clashed with riot police demanding for the release of Bahraini opposition leader Sheik Ali Salman. Sheik Salman, head of the al-Wefaq Islamic Society was arrested on December 28, 2014 after leading a protest rally against elections in November which his party boycotted. REUTERS/ Hamad I Mohammed (BAHRAIN). - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR4OIT8

Does Iran have a card to play in Bahrain?

While protests in Bahrain have remained largely peaceful, does Iran have any influence among the various Bahrain opposition groups?