Blog Post

Saudi-Emirati public reconciliation, a result of hard-earned lessons about the difficulty of going it alone, bodes well for a region at war and under attack, but there are still issues left to resolve.

Wartime pressure has temporarily aligned the leadership’s overriding interest in regime survival, even as its members continue to differ over the costs, methods, and ultimate objectives of the war.

Hitting the systems that keep Gulf populations supplied with water and power is a threshold Iran now appears willing to cross.

While there is historical precedent for collective leadership in Iran, today’s leadership includes representatives of the IRGC and regular military – a reflection of the IRGC’s expanding role and the necessities of governing under wartime conditions.

The outbreak of the Iran war has halted the deepening of the economic relationship between the United States and the Gulf countries. While likely temporary, it could take some time before the upward trajectory is restored.

Egypt has become the indispensable transit state linking Saudi Arabia's Red Sea infrastructure with global markets. But that strategic importance may also have exposed it to the same risks facing Gulf producers.

Following the high of the inaugural Art Basel Qatar, and the low of the ongoing Iran war, Qatar is doubling down on global and regional cultural diplomacy.

Oman has benefitted from the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, but continued conflict and Oman’s highwire neutrality balancing act mean that the sultanate’s economic windfall is still in danger.