Gulf Arab Monarchies

The conflict between Iran and Israel highlights the broader complexities in West Asia. Arab Gulf monarchies, already on edge due to regional instability, must navigate the situation with caution.

The United Arab Emirates' president named his eldest son as crown prince of Abu Dhabi late on Wednesday, making him the oil-rich Gulf monarchy's likely next leader and cementing his family's hold on power.

The Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf face a budget reckoning and risk squandering their $2 trillion in financial wealth within 15 years as oil demand nears peak levels, according to the International Monetary Fund.

You would be forgiven for thinking the U.S. backs Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in their current standoff against Qatar. President Donald Trump himself has taken the Saudis' line against their fellow Gulf monarchy, tweeting last week that Arab leaders all pointed to Qatar as a serial financier of terrorism.

The worst crisis in decades among the Gulf's Arab monarchies intensified on Wednesday, with a Saudi-led alliance imposing more punitive sanctions against Qatar and a senior UAE official playing down the chances of a quick diplomatic resolution.

As one Arab state after another announced it was severing ties with Qatar, the tiny Gulf monarchy's flagship television channel Al Jazeera did not react like other broadcasters -- it updated its news ticker but its presenters said nothing.

Saudi security forces have foiled a planned suicide attack on a mosque in the Qatif region in eastern Saudi Arabia, where many Shi'ite Muslims live, al-Arabiya news channel and other Saudi media reported early on Wednesday.

Arab League foreign ministers on Friday declared Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah a "terrorist" group, after Sunni-dominated Gulf monarchies adopted the same stance.

Twenty-four people face trial in Bahrain for trying to set up a branch of the Islamic State militant group and promoting the overthrow of the Gulf Arab state's monarchy, the public prosecutor's office said on Wednesday.

A court in Bahrain has handed down sentences of up to life imprisonment against 57 Shiites accused of plotting attacks against police and other targets, state media reported.

Qatar said on Wednesday that it regretted the decision of three fellow Gulf monarchies to recall their envoys to Doha, but pledged not to withdraw its ambassadors from those countries.

Fearful of Arab Spring-inspired unrest, Gulf monarchies have stepped up efforts to monitor and control the media, particularly online, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Wednesday.

The conflict between Iran and Israel highlights the broader complexities in West Asia. Arab Gulf monarchies, already on edge due to regional instability, must navigate the situation with caution.

The United Arab Emirates' president named his eldest son as crown prince of Abu Dhabi late on Wednesday, making him the oil-rich Gulf monarchy's likely next leader and cementing his family's hold on power.

The Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf face a budget reckoning and risk squandering their $2 trillion in financial wealth within 15 years as oil demand nears peak levels, according to the International Monetary Fund.

You would be forgiven for thinking the U.S. backs Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in their current standoff against Qatar. President Donald Trump himself has taken the Saudis' line against their fellow Gulf monarchy, tweeting last week that Arab leaders all pointed to Qatar as a serial financier of terrorism.

The worst crisis in decades among the Gulf's Arab monarchies intensified on Wednesday, with a Saudi-led alliance imposing more punitive sanctions against Qatar and a senior UAE official playing down the chances of a quick diplomatic resolution.

As one Arab state after another announced it was severing ties with Qatar, the tiny Gulf monarchy's flagship television channel Al Jazeera did not react like other broadcasters -- it updated its news ticker but its presenters said nothing.

Saudi security forces have foiled a planned suicide attack on a mosque in the Qatif region in eastern Saudi Arabia, where many Shi'ite Muslims live, al-Arabiya news channel and other Saudi media reported early on Wednesday.

Arab League foreign ministers on Friday declared Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah a "terrorist" group, after Sunni-dominated Gulf monarchies adopted the same stance.

Twenty-four people face trial in Bahrain for trying to set up a branch of the Islamic State militant group and promoting the overthrow of the Gulf Arab state's monarchy, the public prosecutor's office said on Wednesday.

A court in Bahrain has handed down sentences of up to life imprisonment against 57 Shiites accused of plotting attacks against police and other targets, state media reported.

Qatar said on Wednesday that it regretted the decision of three fellow Gulf monarchies to recall their envoys to Doha, but pledged not to withdraw its ambassadors from those countries.

Fearful of Arab Spring-inspired unrest, Gulf monarchies have stepped up efforts to monitor and control the media, particularly online, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Wednesday.