Saudi Arabia - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Saudi Arabia cover image

Saudi Arabia

June 29, 2026

Riyadh 8:53 pm

35°C

PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images

Saudi Arabia's FM heads to China amid differences with US on Iran war

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan’s visit to Beijing comes as commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains unstable.

A student attends a training seminar at the Tourism Ministry Training center in the city of Riyadh on August 30, 2022.

Interview

Saudi labor localization will take ‘generation or two': Armada CEO

Around 70% of Saudi Arabia's population is 35 years old or younger, according to the kingdom’s General Authority for Statistics, providing ample opportunity for an educated and technology-savvy national workforce in the coming decades.

Olivier Badard

CEO of Armada Holding

FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images

Explainer

Gulf states push incentives for investors, expats after war dents image

Several Gulf states are working to recover their images as global havens of stability in the wake of the Iran war.

United Arab Emirates

Latest News

Interview

Franco-Gulf investment holds firm despite Iran war, French official says

French Trade & Invest Commissioner for United Arab Emirates and Middle East and Business France's regional director for the Middle East Axel Baroux. — Business France

Axel Baroux

France’s trade and investment commissioner for the UAE and Middle East

Saudi Aramco's VC arm sees boom in emerging technologies, retail

FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

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

Leon Neal/Getty Images

Ex-Saudi official says MBS suggested killing former king with 'poison ring'

The Saudi government responded by describing Saad al-Jabri as "a discredited former government official with a long history of fabricating.”

Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud walks toward the Treaty Room at the State Department, October 14, 2020, in Washington, DC.

Biden aide, Saudi crown prince discussed Israel normalization: report

Axios reports that White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan discussed Saudi Arabia's potential diplomatic ties with Israel during his meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images

Iran's FM says Saudi Arabia talks have progressed 'good distance'

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian's comments came after Saudi Arabia confirmed the two rivals held their first round of talks with Tehran's new hard-liner government.

The One World Trade Center "Freedom Tower" and "The Oculus" are reflected in a window in New York, on Sept. 8, 2021.

Saudi Arabia says it welcomes Biden's order to release 9/11 files

The Saudi Embassy in Washington said it hoped the documents' declassification would put an end to the "baseless allegations against the kingdom."

Areej al-Sadhan and her brother Abdulrahman al-Sadhan.

Intel: US family seeks Biden's help freeing detained Saudi aid worker

The United States said it’s urging Saudi Arabia to resolve the case of Abdulrahman al-Sadhan, an aid worker sentenced to prison for allegedly running a Twitter account critical of the kingdom’s rulers.

Saudi proof of vaccination required

Saudi Arabia to require vaccination proof for foreign tourists

Saudi Arabia has imposed some particularly strict travel measures recently amid regional concerns about coronavirus variants.

A cemetery worker digs grave holes for victims of the COVID-19 coronavirus at Setu Gede cemetery in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, on July 22, 2021.

Saudi Arabia to impose travel ban for visits to 'red list' countries

Citizens who travel to countries including the UAE, Indonesia and Turkey are at risk of penalties including a three-year ban on travel.

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

Saudi Arabia’s Prince Khalid describes 'great' meeting with Blinken

Saudi Arabia’s deputy defense minister, Prince Khalid bin Salman, is the most senior Saudi official to visit Washington under the Biden administration.

Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei speaks during a news conference in the capital Tehran on July 22, 2019.

Iran reports progress in talks with Saudi Arabia

Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said talks between the two regional powers will continue.

FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images

Saudi Arabia plans second national airline in tourism push

The additional airline would help position the Gulf state as a global logistics hub, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said.

US President Joe Biden (R) speaks with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan prior to a plenary session of a NATO summit at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters in Brussels, on June 14, 2021.

The Takeaway: Pragmatism is the new watchword in US-Turkey relations

Plus: A fresh start for Israel; Iran’s hard-line front-runner on the issues; Egypt’s faltering Palestinian mediation; Saudi-Syria talks; Golani’s makeover.

Blinken in Cairo

The Takeaway: US ties with Egypt loom large again

Picking up the pieces in Gaza; the uneasy, uncertain peace between Israel and Hamas; PLO and Hamas still can’t find common ground; Russia on the diplomatic sidelines; desert kingdom looks to build forest; and more!