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Economy & Business

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.

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

Latest News

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

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

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

The Line NEOM

NEOM’s ambitious concept-to-project transition presents funding, feasibility challenges

Robert Mogielnicki

Robert Mogielnicki

Suez yacht

Egypt invests Suez Canal revenues in three yacht ports

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced that three yacht ports will be established from the revenues of the Suez Canal, in a bid to stimulate tourism to support the national economy.

Lebanese wait in a line outside a closed petrol station, Hamra district, Beirut, Lebanon, Aug. 20, 2021.

Lebanese fear more hardships after fuel subsidies are lifted

The Lebanese are expecting higher gasoline prices in light of the central bank’s decision to lift subsidies amid market chaos, dollar exchange fluctuations and devaluation of salaries in the Lebanese pound.

FETHI BELAID/AFP via Getty Images

Food crisis looms over Tunisia

As food grows scarcer in Tunisia, more residents are growing upset at the government's inaction.

A man watches stock movements on a display at the Dubai Financial Market stock exchange in the Gulf emirate on April 12, 2022. - Shares in the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) rose 16 percent on April 12 in the Gulf region's biggest initial public offering since Saudi oil giant Aramco in 2019. (Photo by Giuseppe CACACE / AFP) (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images)

GCC capital investment linked to global market volatility

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional energy

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

France’s TotalEnergies sells stake in Iraqi Kurdish oil field

The sale follows the Iraqi federal government pressuring international firms to pull out of the autonomous region, which has led to concern from the US State Department.

VLADIMIR SMIRNOV/AFP via Getty Images

Erdogan looks to Putin to ease foreign currency woes

An extraordinary uptick in capital flows of unknown origin to Turkey has left many wondering whether Russian money could be involved.

A man walks past a currency exchange shop displaying a giant US dollar banknote, Cairo, Egypt, Nov. 3, 2016.

Egyptian pound continues to lose value

Economists expect Egypt's central bank to loosen its grip on the exchange rate of the Egyptian pound in its meeting later this month, but the possible move is fraught with fears from a sharp rise in commodity prices.

Iran uzbekistan

Iran strengthens ties to Central Asia with Uzbekistan deals

The two states pledged to cooperate on energy, transportation and more, including the strategic Chabahar port.

Ohood

Minister for the Future says 'Projects of the 50' aims to make UAE global hub

Ohood Khalfan Al Roumi, the UAE's minister of state for government development and the future, explains the Gulf state's strategic plans over the next half-century.

The platform of the Leviathan natural gas field in the Mediterranean Sea

Israeli natural gas revenues boom

With a projected increase in output, Israel will have the opportunity to boost exports to Europe.

KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images

Another illegal dig unearths archaeological discovery in Egypt's Giza

After a recent bust in Giza, archaeologists continued to be alarmed by illegal excavations and antiquities smuggling.