Al-Monitor Staff - AL-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Turkish minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Simsek,(L) speaks with minister of Energy and Natural Resourcesand Alparslan Bayraktar,(R) during the group meeting of Justice and Development (AK) Party at the Turkish Grand National Assembly in Ankara, on June 21, 2023. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Turkey's finance, banking chiefs to visit Saudi Arabia in search of foreign funds

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (2R), Oman's Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi (L) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary General Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi (2L) arrive for a joint press conference following a meeting of Sergei Lavrov with his counterparts of the GCC member states in Moscow on July 10, 2023. (Photo by NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA / POOL / AFP) (Photo by NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

In Moscow, Russia's Lavrov welcomes Gulf states' rapprochement with Iran

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Iranian Revolutionary Guard speedboats cruise past an oil tanker off the port of Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, on July 2, 2012. Iran has come up with several methods to foil the European insurance embargo on ships loaded with its crude, a sanction which may harm its vital exports as much as the EU oil embargo itself. AFP PHOTO/ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/GettyImages)

US confirms Iran’s IRGC seized tanker smuggling fuel in Gulf

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

This aerial photograph shows the construction of the Russian-built Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Mersin province, Turkey, April 26, 2023.

Turkey says talks with China, Russia, South Korea underway for new nuclear plants

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Patriot long-range air defence systems of the German Bundeswehr armed forces are deployed at Vilnius Airport ahead of the upcoming NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania on July 7, 2023. (Photo by Petras Malukas / AFP) (Photo by PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP via Getty Images)

US presses Turkey to lift opposition to Sweden's NATO bid as summit nears

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Supporters of Iraq's Sadrist movement gather outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad on June 30, 2023 for a second day of protests against a Koran burning outside a Stockholm mosque that outraged Muslims around the world. The protest came a day after an Iraqi citizen living in Sweden, Salwan Momika, 37, stomped on the Islamic holy book and set several pages alight in front of the capital's largest mosque. Swedish police had granted him a permit in line with free-speech protections, but authorities later said

As protests continue against Sweden, OIC to meet in Saudi on Quran burning

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

A photo illustration taken on March 30, 2018 in Beijing shows the screen of a laptop with the word "VPN" written in the search field of the Chinese Baidu website. Chinese authorities had announced that all unrecognised VPN services would be blocked by March 31, meaning that Chinese and foreign companies must choose from a limited number of state-approved VPNs. / AFP PHOTO / FRED DUFOUR (Photo credit should read FRED DUFOUR/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran, Yemen, Saudi Arabia follow close behind China in VPN blocking

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

West Bank violence

Blinken: US warned Israel that West Bank tensions could undermine Saudi normalization

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Muslim worshippers take pictures of each other after attending the Eid al-Adha morning prayers at Doha's Education City Stadium, which hosted matches during Qatar's 2022 FIFA World Cup, on the first day of the Muslim holiday on June 28, 2023. Eid al-Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice, marks the end of the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR / AFP) (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Qatar seen most peaceful in Middle East as Israel dips, Turkey ties Iran: GPI

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) transits the Strait of Hormuz as an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter from the Nightdippers of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 5 lifts off from the flight deck November 19, 2019. The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations in support of naval operations to ensure maritime stability and security in the Central Region, connecting the Mediterranean and the Pacific through the western Indian Ocean and three strateg

Congress doubles down on Middle East defense architecture in NDAA markups

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Nuclear

Egypt hosted US, China, Russia, France, UK nuclear talks

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

People queue to buy olive oil, which is sold cheaply by the Agricultural Products Office in Ankara, among soaring inflation in the country, Feb. 17, 2022.

Turkey hikes interest rates by 6.5 percentage points to 15%

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff