Gulf Countries

Iranian strikes have exposed the Gulf's dependence on desalination plants. Here's why these facilities are vital, vulnerable during conflict, and what a disruption could mean for the region

Fighting is spreading across West Asia as the US intensifies strikes on southern Iran, Tehran retaliates across the Gulf, and key energy and shipping routes come under growing threat

Wall Street must move beyond treating the Gulf as one market as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar chart increasingly divergent investment paths

Gulf crude exports hit their highest level since before the Iran conflict, but renewed fighting is slowing tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz

As tensions with Iran expose the risks of the Strait of Hormuz, Gulf nations are investing in new pipelines and ports to secure oil exports and reduce dependence on the key waterway

Donald Trump abandoned plans to impose a 20 per cent fee on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, saying he would instead seek trade and investment deals with Gulf states

The Gulf conflict tested one kind of resilience; the years ahead will test others. India met the first test in good order. That is a reason for quiet confidence - and for getting on with the next

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that relations between the United States and its Gulf Arab partners are rock solid, despite fears by some of them that they might be left out of discussions aimed at ending the war with Iran. Rubio used a three-day, three-nation trip to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain this week to try to convince all the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council that the Trump administration does indeed have their backs in negotiations to end the war President Donald Trump and Israel launched on Feb. 28. That conflict sharply curtailed the region's oil exports and saw several Gulf countries take direct retaliatory Iranian missile and drone hits. "They've shared with us some very concrete concerns, ideas," Rubio said in Bahrain, the last stop on the trip. "And when I say concern, the biggest concern is that they really just want to be informed every step along the way as we enter these negotiations at both the technical and political ...

Energy executives across the Gulf are working to restore oil production and shipping after the US-Iran interim peace deal reopened the world's most critical oil transit route

Geopolitical tensions in West Asia are driving Gulf-based NRIs towards Indian term insurance plans, attracted by lower premiums and GST exemptions

Geopolitical tensions in West Asia are driving Gulf-based NRIs towards Indian term insurance plans, attracted by lower premiums and GST exemptions

India lodged a strong protest with the US over attacks on commercial vessels carrying Indian seafarers, while the UN and Iran condemned the incidents

US Vice President J D Vance has said Iran having an atomic weapon would trigger a "nuclear arms race" worldwide and asserted that the US was "locked and loaded" to restart military operations if Tehran failed to reach a peace deal. Vance's remarks at a press conference at the White House on Tuesday came a day after President Donald Trump put off the decision to resume strikes on Iran at the request of Arab nations, including Qatar and the UAE, who said that Tehran was being "reasonable" in peace talks. "We think the Iranians want to make a deal. The president of the United States has asked us to negotiate in good faith. And that's exactly what we've done," the vice president said. But Vance warned that diplomacy will not come at the cost of Trump's key demand that Iran never obtain a nuclear weapon. "So as the president just told me, we're locked and loaded," Vance said, adding that he had a meeting with Trump before coming to the press briefing. "We don't want to go down that ...

Shoppers in the West Asia are some of the world's biggest spenders, splashing out at retail hubs like Dubai and other luxury destinations including Paris and Milan

The bling is back, but the war in the Persian Gulf has tarnished the outlook for the luxury watch industry - the ultimate in bling. Starting Tuesday, Geneva hosts the annual "Watches and Wonders" fair, a premiere gathering in an industry eager for a rebound after two years of market contraction, hopefully including sales in oil-rich Gulf Arab countries. The US and Israeli war against Iran that began February 28, however, has had a sweeping impact on the global economy: Driving up energy prices, stalling shipments of fertiliser, disrupting air travel, among other things. High-end watches have not been spared. Soaring prices for precious metals like gold and silver over the last year and US President Donald Trump's Liberation Day tariffs launched a year ago - while down from peak levels - already affected the market. Now, renewed inflation pressures and doubts about consumer confidence are throwing new uncertainty into the market that generates tens of billions of dollars in revenue

The merger would combine major studios and networks such as CNN and CBS, enabling them to compete more aggressively as streaming draws audiences away from traditional linear TV

Amid rising Iran tensions, Gulf nations are reportedly exploring pipelines and new trade corridors to reduce dependence on the Strait of Hormuz