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Saudi Arabia

September 9, 2026

Riyadh 2:10 am

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Khaled ZIAD / AFP via Getty Images

73 wounded in Houthi strike on Saudi Arabia as Riyadh vows response: What to know

The World Health Organization said Monday that at least 728 people have been killed or wounded in Yemen since Aug. 24.

The entrance to the city of Qiddiya, south of the capital Riyadh, April 25, 2019.

Analysis

Iran war tests Gulf's theme park ambitions

Saudi Arabia is pressing ahead with multibillion-dollar projects as the conflict disrupts regional tourism and exposes weaknesses in the Gulf states' entertainment strategies.

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

A man walks past a mural depicting oil pumps and the Venezuelan flag, with portraits of Venezuelan independence leader Simon Bolivar (L) and former late President Hugo Chavez (R), in Caracas, Venezuela, on Sept. 3, 2026.

Analysis

Could Trump’s oil push in Venezuela upend OPEC’s energy order?

Washington’s growing role in controlling the Latin American country's crude riches could help reshape an energy order centered on OPEC as the Hormuz crisis pressures Gulf exports.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Guests stand at the booth of Saudi artificial intelligence company Humain during the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Riyadh, on Oct. 29, 2025.

Saudi Arabia taps China’s MiniMax for Arabic AI model

The development signals that the kingdom continues deepening AI ties with China while simultaneously pursuing major US technology partnerships, keeping the Gulf state at the center of an intensifying technology race between the superpowers.

Latest News

Saudi oil exports hit nine-year low as tanker attacks threaten recovery

A commercial vessel passes through an international shipping lane off Yemen's Hanish Island in the Red Sea on July 27, 2026.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan set Mecca Alliance into motion

Mecca Alliance

Samuel Wendel

Senior Analyst, Middle East Business & Tech

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

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian speaks during a news conference in Moscow, Russia, September 22, 2015. Amir-Abdollahian said on Tuesday his country had no troops or military advisers in Syria or Yemen, the RIA news agency reported. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev - RTX1RTQL

Is Iran deal stopping regional cooperation?

Despite the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, it appears that an improvement in Saudi-Iranian relations in the short term is unlikely, if not impossible.

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.