With the Iran war, large AI projects now sit inside a regional battlespace. The next phase of Gulf AI strategy will need to focus on resilience, continuity, and trusted infrastructure, not only capital and scale.
Abu Dhabi’s departure from OPEC signals that discipline within the group is becoming harder to sustain at a time when the global energy market is facing the prospect of a more volatile and uncertain future.
Billions of dollars in infrastructure destruction from the war, combined with decades of mismanagement, corruption, and international sanctions, has sparked an unprecedented economic crisis in Iran.
As Iranian strikes exposed structural gaps, Gulf states are expanding their air defense architecture through new suppliers, lower-cost systems, and operational partnerships.
With the Strait of Hormuz closed and alternative export routes infeasible in the short term, a comprehensive agreement with Erbil can help Baghdad address its critical lack of oil export capability.
