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Saudi Arabia

November 12, 2026

Riyadh 12:09 pm

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ankers are seen at the Khor Fakkan Container Terminal, the only natural deep-sea port in the region and one of the major container ports in the Sharjah Emirate, along the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which one-fifth of global oil output passes, on June 23, 2025.

Explainer

UAE selling Saudi oil highlights new Gulf energy realities

News surfaced on Nov. 10 that the UAE has reportedly marketed 1.87 million barrels of Saudi crude salvaged from a damaged supertanker for sale, marking an exceptional example of energy cooperation between Gulf rivals.

United Arab Emirates

ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP via Getty Images

GCC to build military command center in Kuwait as region simmers: What to know

GCC countries have stepped up their joint defense efforts with the announcement of a new forward command center to be headquartered in Kuwait, as tensions between Iran and the US continue to escalate.

Latest News

Analysis

Syria denies sending troops to fight Houthis in return for Saudi loans

Saudi Arabia's Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed el-Khereiji (R) speaks with Syria's interim foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Iraq, Saudi Arabia face attacks as Trump pursues Iran deal

Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Analysis

Gulf’s $3 trillion US investment drive faces post-midterm Trump reckoning

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 18: Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands during a dinner in the East Room at the White House on November 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump is hosting the Crown Prince for meetings aimed at strengthening economic and defense ties, including the U.S. sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

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

Iraq's Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari speaks during a news conference with Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin in Baghdad, Iraq February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Khalid al Mousily - RTX26I5W

Why Iraqi-Saudi ties are backsliding yet again

After Iraq’s foreign affairs minister defended Hezbollah, which is considered a terrorist group by the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Arab League, Gulf-Iraqi ties may worsen.

A Saudi policeman (R) stands watch as muslims touch and pray at the door of the Kaaba and touch and kiss the al-Hajr al-Aswad "Black Stone" during their Umrah Mawlid al-Nabawi "Birthday of Prophet Mohammad" in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia January 18, 2016. Picture taken January 18, 2016. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh - RTX25AB8

Will Saudi block Iranians from hajj this year?

Iran claims that Saudi officials have refused to issue visas for Iranian officials in order to conduct preparatory talks for Iranian pilgrims.

Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Kuwait's Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al Khalid al Sabah, Qatar's Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiyah, Oman's Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, Bahrain's Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa and UAE'S Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan (L-R) pose for a group photo during an extraordinary meeting in Riyadh January 9, 2016. REUTERS/Faisal Al N

How united is the GCC?

While Gulf states may all be united under the Gulf Cooperation Council name, their individual policies on foreign intervention vary greatly.

A worker stands at a desalination plant, 35 lm south of Riyadh, May 4, 2011. Long before it understood the value of oil, the desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia knew the worth of water. But the leading oil exporter's water challenges are growing as energy-intensive desalination erodes oil revenues while peak water looms more ominously than peak oil -- the theory that supplies are at or near their limit, with nowhere to go but down. Picture taken May 4, 2011. To match Feature SAUDI-WATER/ REUTERS/Fahad Shadeed

What Saudi Arabia is doing to save water

Saudi Arabia’s self-sufficiency policy has led to the overconsumption of water, a resource that Saudi Arabia critically needs.

Will the Russians be able to help Lebanon get a new president?

Russia’s withdrawal from Syria and the goodwill it generated in Arab circles, may allow it to play the role of mediator in Geneva and to help Lebanon fill its presidential vacuum.

Is this the man who will replace Abbas?

It seems dismissed Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan is expanding his regional and international influence to become the potential successor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Iran officials defend Rouhani's Pakistan trip

After criticism suggesting that President Hassan Rouhani’s trip to Pakistan did not achieve anything, officials from the administration and media linked to the administration have fired back.

People look at the site of a suicide bombing in Yemen's southern port city of Aden March 26, 2016. REUTERS/Fawaz Salman - RTSCBIP

After 10 years of war, are Yemenis hopeless?

The war in Yemen has added a new group of internally displaced persons to that previously created during a decade of conflict between Houthis and the state.

A plaque is displayed outside the Iranian embassy in central London, Britain August 20, 2015. Britain will reopen its embassy in Iran this weekend nearly four years after protesters ransacked the elegant ambassadorial residence and burned the British flag. The move to restore full diplomatic relations marks a thawing of ties with Iran since it reached a nuclear deal with the United States, China, Russia, Germany, France and Britain. REUTERS/Paul Hackett - RTX1OYJ1

MP says Iran shuttered embassies over lack of funding

According to one Iranian parliamentarian, financial issues were behind Iran's closing of a number of embassies, for which the Foreign Ministry has long complained of a lack of funding.

Can Hezbollah withstand Saudis' wrath?

Hezbollah's actions are isolating Lebanon from the Arab states and exacerbating the country's already fractured and paralyzed politics.

Erdogan takes authoritarian rule to new heights in war on PKK

Terrorist bombing in Turkey kills two Americans as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan resurrects "thought crimes" in confronting critics; Is Iran a spoiler in Palestinian politics? Israel cool to feelers from Sudan.

Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy attends a briefing in Moscow, Russia, March 18, 2016. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin - RTSB317

What Russia's Syria shift means for Moscow-Riyadh ties

Russia’s likely gradual and partial military withdrawal from Syria may minimize one of the irritants in the Russian-Saudi relationship, but it won’t address their fundamental differences.