Saudi Arabia - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Saudi Arabia cover image

Saudi Arabia

May 3, 2026

Riyadh 1:29 pm

38°C

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

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan hosted the third meeting of the foreign ministers of Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on the margins of the 5th Antalya Diplomacy Forum, on April 17, 2026.

Analysis

Why Saudi Arabia, Egypt are wary of Turkey’s proposed 4-way defense pact with Pakistan

The proposed framework faces major hurdles and fault lines, ranging from NATO constraints to Israeli opposition and weak military integration.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Latest News

In Lebanon, Saudi Arabia pursues quiet diplomacy as Trump pushes Israel normalization

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan (L) disembarks from an airplane upon his arrival at the Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut on Jan. 23, 2025.

Why did the Met Opera lose its Saudi funding deal?

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

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

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

Muslim pilgrims walk on roads as they head to cast stones at pillars symbolizing Satan during the annual haj pilgrimage in Mina on the first day of Eid al-Adha, near the holy city of Mecca September 24, 2015. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood - RTX1S609

Khamenei condemns Saudi Arabia for hajj stampede

Iranian officials have blamed Saudi management of the hajj for the stampede that left at least 125 Iranians dead.

A soldier from the United Arab Emirates armed with a machine gun watches over Yemeni territory on a Chinook helicopter on the frontline conflict zone of Marib in central Yemen September 16, 2015. Armed with high-tech Western weaponry, Gulf Arab soldiers are fighting with newfound determination against what they see as the expanding influence of Iran, their non-Arab and Shi'ite Muslim arch-foe, in a war that has ravaged Yemen for six months. The oil-producing province of Marib has become a key battlefield be

The battle for Sanaa looms

If a cease-fire is not arranged, the battle for Sanaa will turn into a humanitarian disaster.

Why Iran, Saudi Arabia keep locking horns on Syria

The window of opportunity for regional dialogue provided by the Iran nuclear deal appears wasted as Tehran and Riyadh stick to their positions.

Is Saudi Arabia up to the task of protecting the 'House of God'?

With construction issues at the Grand Mosque and the threat of Islamist militants, the hajj presents a unique challenge to Saudi organizers every year.

Iranian authorities scramble to stop 'Beat the Arab'

An online game targeting Arabs and hosted on Iranian websites is prompting authorities to take action.

Syrian migrants walk towards the Greece border on a road near Edirne, Turkey, September 15, 2015. REUTERS/Osman Orsal - RTS165C

Why the Gulf isn't to blame for Syrian refugee crisis

Oil-rich Gulf states are defending their record in assisting Syrian refugees as world opinion grows more hostile to their perceived indifference.

Muslim pilgrims walk near a construction crane which crashed in the Grand Mosque in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia September 12, 2015. At least 107 people were killed when the crane toppled over at Mecca's Grand Mosque on Friday, Saudi Arabia's Civil Defence authority said, less than two weeks before Islam's annual haj pilgrimage. REUTERS/Mohamed Al Hwaity - RTSR3D

'Guests of God' pay high price

Has the commercialization of the pilgrimage to Mecca overshadowed the Saudi leadership’s goal of serving Muslims?

Will Iran reach truce with the Islamic State?

Some members of Iran’s foreign policy elite are suggesting that Iran reduce regional military intervention — a policy that could help US President Barack Obama's administration sell the Iran deal to skeptical traditional allies and their US supporters.

Yemen's African connection

Amid the withholding of the details of the Emirati death toll in Yemen, African soldiers are set to step up their role in Operation Restoring Hope.

Smoke raises behind an Islamic State flag after Iraqi security forces and Shiite fighters took control of Saadiya in Diyala province from Islamist State militants, November 24, 2014. Iraqi forces said on Sunday they retook two towns north of Baghdad from Islamic State fighters, driving them from strongholds they had held for months and clearing a main road from the capital to Iran. There was no independent confirmation that the army, Shi'ite militia and Kurdish peshmerga forces had completely retaken Jalawl

How the Islamic State has helped the Middle East

The expansion of the Islamic State has forced regional powers to cooperate and is in fact strengthening state governance in the Middle East.

Syria diplomacy 'stuck'

Hopes of the United States, Europe and Russia to try to ramp up Syria diplomacy in the wake of the Iran nuclear deal have stalled amid Saudi reluctance, and there has been no breakthrough after the flurry of recent diplomatic contacts between Washington, Moscow and Riyadh.

Iranian deputy foreign minister reasserts leadership on Syria, confidence in Hezbollah

During a visit to Beirut, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein-Amir Abdollahian discussed Lebanese presidential elections and pressing regional issues, including relations between Washington, Riyadh and Moscow concerning Syria and the nuclear agreement.