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September 25, 2026

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Analysis

Can Netanyahu turn Israel's UN isolation into strength at home?

The absence of a Trump meeting would have been awkward for Netanyahu, who has long portrayed himself to Israeli voters as uniquely close to the US president.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Latest News

Saudi Arabia pauses star-studded Red Sea film festival as Houthis hit kingdom

red carpet at the Red Sea International Film Festival

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

Journalists watch, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman addressing the attendees of the summit, on a screen in the media centre ahead of the 41st Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in the city of al-Ula in northwestern Saudi Arabia on January 5, 2021. - Saudi Arabia will reopen its borders and airspace to Qatar, US and Kuwaiti officials said, a major step towards ending a diplomatic rift that has seen Riyadh lead an alliance isolating Doha. The bombshell announcement came on the eve of GCC annual summi

Qatar, Gulf states ink 'solidarity and stability' deal in Saudi Arabia

The agreement was struck a day after Saudi Arabia agreed to reopen its air, land and sea borders to rival Qatar.

Houthis, Hamas merge diplomacy around prisoner releases

Hamas welcomes a Houthi initiative to release two Saudi airmen the Houthis captured in Yemen in exchange for Saudi Arabia freeing 60 Palestinian prisoners, including a Hamas leader and his son.

US President Donald Trump (3L), US First lady Melania Trump (2L), Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud (C), and Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (3R) pose for a group photo with other leaders of the Muslim world during the inauguration of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology in Riyadh on May 21, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Four must-read books on Trump’s Middle East policies

What we learned from Michael Wolff, John Bolton and Bob Woodward about the Trump administration and the Middle East.

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 20: President Donald Trump (R) holds up a chart of military hardware sales as he meets with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the Oval Office at the White House on March 20, 2018 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images)

Trump administration pushes last-minute arms deals to Middle East

The move to go forward with a proposed $290 million sale of precision-guided bombs for Saudi Arabia comes just weeks before the Biden administration arrives.

This picture taken early on November 19, 2020, shows a projection on the Louvre Museum in Paris by Amnesty International members depicting jailed Saudi human rights activists including Loujain Al-Athloul (C) and reading "Mr Macron, demand their release", ahead of the upcoming virtual G20 summit. (Photo by THOMAS COEX / AFP) (Photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden’s national security adviser criticizes Saudi Arabia for jailing women’s rights activist

Jake Sullivan called the sentencing of activist Loujain al-Hathloul "troubling."

Lebanese men watch the head of the country's Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah during a televised speech, at a coffee shop in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, on August 30, 2020, on the tenth day of the month of Muharram which marks the peak of Ashura. - Ashura is a 10-day period of mourning in remembrance of the seventh-century martyrdom Imam Hussein, who was killed in the battle of Karbala in modern-day Iraq, in 680 AD. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Ge

Nasrallah says Hezbollah would not be part of Iran nuclear talks

The Shiite party's leader also said Hezbollah has doubled its missile supplies.

Forces loyal to Yemen's Southern Transitional Council (STC) deploy at the entrance of Aden International Airport of the southern Yemeni city on August 27, 2020. - Yemen's southern separatists said on August 26 they had withdrawn from talks over a Saudi-sponsored power-sharing deal with the internationally recognised government, in the latest setback for the troubled process. The plan called for the Yemeni prime minister to form a new government within 30 days, as well as the appointment of a new governor an

Yemen’s president orders unity government to Aden after swearing-in in Saudi Arabia

The power-sharing agreement comes as Yemen's Houthi rebels have already largely seized control of the country's north

Oil ministers attend the 176th meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) conference and the 6th meeting of the OPEC and non-OPEC countries on July 1, 2019 in Vienna, Austria. (Photo by JOE KLAMAR / AFP) (Photo credit should read JOE KLAMAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Gulf oil exporters cautiously optimistic for 2021

A new COVID-19 strain and the possible return of Iranian crude to global markets could inflict “short-term pains” to Gulf oil producers whose local populations hold on to the oil era.

Trump administration weighs immunity for Saudi crown prince

Saad al-Jabri alleged that Mohammed bin Salman has led an attempt to lure him back to the kingdom and kill him.

US show of force in Persian Gulf ahead of anniversary of Soleimani killing

A guided-missile submarine and two cruisers are the Pentagon's latest warning to Iran.

Saudi passengers observe a safe distance as they wait their fligts at terminal 5 in the King Fahad International Airport, designated for domestic flights, in the capital Riyadh on May 31, 2020, after authorities lifted the ban on flights within the country. (Photo by FAYEZ NURELDINE / AFP) (Photo by FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images)

Saudi Arabia pauses international umrah, flights over new coronavirus strain

The kingdom has also suspended entry through its land and seaports for one week.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal (2nd R) welcomes US Vice President Joe Biden (C) at the Riyadh airbase on October 27, 2011, upon his arrival in the Saudi capital with a US official delegation to offer condolences to the King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz following the death of his brother, Crown Prince Sultan. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read -/AFP via Getty Images)

Saudi Arabia makes major regional moves as Biden administration arrives

By modifying its foreign policy goals, the kingdom is bracing itself for the approaching change of administration in Washington.