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Economy & Business

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)

Pistachios reach highest prices in eight years amid Iran war

Pistachio prices rose to around $4.57 a pound in March, their highest since 2018, according to data company Expana.

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

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

Amid growing economic fallout from the regional war, Abu Dhabi’s bombshell request for a war-time financial lifeline from the United States is less about cash and more about clout — for now.

United Arab Emirates

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

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

A wave of new LNG supplies will be delayed for at least two years due to war-related damage to Qatari energy infrastructure, according the International Energy Agency's latest market update.

A person walks past the closed Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center on Jan. 7, 2021, in New York City.

Why did the Met Opera lose its Saudi funding deal?

The deal, announced as a nonbinding memorandum of understanding last September, would have seen the PIF inject up to $200 million into the opera institution over the next eight years.

Latest News

Which airlines are cutting flights amid Hormuz fuel disruption?

Refueling trucks are seen at Southend Airport on April 17, 2026, in Southend, England.

How are Iran-linked tankers still moving through Hormuz blockade?

BAY ISMOYO / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Gulf energy deals face Iran war stress test as global expansion meets oil shock

A picture shows the Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar's principal site for production of liquefied natural gas and gas-to-liquid, administrated by Qatar Petroleum, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the capital Doha, on Feb. 6, 2017.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Could UAE tap US currency swap line as Iran war strains Gulf economies?

Haruna Furuhashi /Getty Images

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

A customer buys US dollars in exchange for Turkish lira at an exchange office, Ankara, Turkey, July 20, 2023.

Turkey's annual inflation rate nears 60% in August

Turkey’s economy minister says the country’s struggle with runaway inflation will take time.

A cannabis field is seen in the village of Azila in Ketama region at the foot of the marginalized and underdeveloped mountainous region of Rif, Morocco, Sept. 16, 2022.

In Europe's cannabis market, Morocco faces stiff competition from Israel

President of China Xi Jinping (R) and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (L) attend the China-Africa Leaders' Roundtable Dialogue on the last day of the 2023 BRICS Summit in Johannesburg on August 24, 2023. (Photo by ALET PRETORIUS / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ALET PRETORIUS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

What's driving Gulf interest to join BRICS?

Joining the bloc allows Gulf states to gain traction in their status and stake holding as providers of both a model of economic growth and development, and in the mechanisms to provide capital.

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional energy

UAE NZ

UAE trade offensive continues, this time with New Zealand deal

The UAE is looking to secure its sixth trade agreement of the year as it increases its non-oil trade globally, with intentions to reach $1.09 billion by 2031.

United Arab Emirates

President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speaks during the 2023 BRICS Summit at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg on August 22, 2023. (Photo by GIANLUIGI GUERCIA / AFP) (Photo by GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP via Getty Images)

Brazil set to capitalize on Saudi-UAE competition as investments take shape

South America’s largest economy has been actively engaging with the UAE and Saudi Arabia under newly reelected President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

An oil tanker unloads imported crude oil at Qingdao port in China's eastern Shandong province on May 9, 2022. - China OUT (Photo by AFP) / China OUT (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran's oil production bounces back as exports to China rise despite sanctions

Iran's oil industry was hurt by the reimposition of US sanctions in 2018, but has largely recovered since then, in part due to increased exports to China.

Nvidia

US bans Nvidia, AMD AI chips' export to some Mideast countries, amid China fears

The technological war between the United States and China is heating up, with both countries imposing limits on their prized assets.

ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

Saudi sovereign wealth fund invests in US mixed martial arts league

The new area of sports investment follows major Saudi investments in golf and soccer.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Radhid Al-Maktoum 1

UAE’s non-oil trade hits record $340B in first half of 2023

Trade is set to increase after the BRICS bloc of major developing economies announced last week that the United Arab Emirates was among the list of countries invited to join the group.

United Arab Emirates

Employees work at headquarters housing Alibaba, Iran's largest online travel booking service, in the capital Tehran on February 17, 2020 - Iran's startup sector, which began to develop in the 2000s, took off from 2013. But new technology and the use of smart phones were hit hard by the reinstatement of US sanctions in 2018, after the United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal. An unexpected effect of the sanctions has been that Iranian entrepreneurs have seized the opportunity to launch startups. (Ph

Iran's startups will continue to face pressure from hardline agenda

The security establishment has recently targeted entrepreneurs and entities in the country's startup ecosystem — but how far are Iran's hardliners prepared to go and what will be the reaction of constituents?

Bijan Khajehpour

Bijan Khajehpour

In Vienna, reporting on Iranian politics

Tarek El Molla

Egypt to drill 35 gas wells by 2025 as BP invests

The energy giant pledged $3.5 billion in investment into gas exploration in Egypt over the next three years.

Aramco

Saudi Arabia’s foreign reserves shrink by $16B in July amid oil cuts

The kingdom’s net foreign assets declined to 1.53 trillion riyals ($407 billion), according to the central bank’s monthly report published on Monday.