Author: Gulf News Week
Trump needs to take decisive action to secure regional peace and a win in the midterm elections.It was too much to ask of United States Vice President JD Vance that he hammer out a peace agreement with representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran after the first direct meeting of the two sides in more than a decade.But it is not too much to ask for enemy combatants to maintain the ceasefire and for negotiators to come back to the table for a second round of meetings.As of now, we still have a ceasefire. The question remains: Can America win…
The past month and a half have shown that the nature of modern warfare is shifting.On Saturday, the United States and Iran held direct negotiations for the first time in more than a decade. The talks ended without a deal, as the US and Iranian positions remain far apart.While it is unclear what will happen next, the past month and a half of fighting has cast light on important lessons to be learned not just about this conflict but also the nature of modern warfare. These may turn into key considerations for decision-makers in Washington as they determine what to…
NewsFeedNetanyahu next to Middle East map: ‘We strangled them and have more to do’Standing in front of a map of the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describes how six countries ‘wanted to strangle us’ but instead ‘we strangled them… and we have more to do’. Ambassadors from Israel and Lebanon are set to hold talks in Washington DC on Tuesday, but they’ve issued conflicting statements on what will be discussed.Published On 12 Apr 202612 Apr 2026SaveClick here to share on social mediashare-nodesSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd media on Googleinfo
NewsFeedIsrael reprimands Spanish diplomat over detonation of Netanyahu effigyIsrael says it has reprimanded Spain’s top diplomat in Tel Aviv over the blowing up of an effigy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during Easter celebrations in the Spanish town of El Burgo. Israel’s foreign ministry blamed ‘incitement’ by Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez. The municipality has previously used effigies of US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the annual event which draws hundreds of onlookers.Published On 12 Apr 202612 Apr 2026SaveClick here to share on social mediashare-nodesSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd media on Googleinfo
A governing arrangement for the strait can and must be developed based on law and fact.The announcement of a ceasefire by United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday has brought some relief to the Gulf region, seafarers and the energy markets. Iran has agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz for commercial traffic as long as vessels coordinate movements with its authorities.Irrespective of what happens next – whether a durable peace deal is negotiated or hostilities resume – the global misery caused by Iran’s closure of the strait demonstrates a clear need for long-term solutions that are solidly rooted both…
Even if the talks fail to produce a deal, a return to an all-out war may still be averted.Expectations for the upcoming talks between the United States and Iran in Pakistan are understandably modest. There is even a risk that the meeting won’t take place at all.Yet, paradoxically, the failure of the talks may still shift the situation in a positive direction. Indeed, the true measure of the ceasefire’s success may not be whether it yields a lasting accord with Iran. It may lie instead in what it forestalls: Even in the absence of a durable deal, Washington may have…
NewsFeedGaza father searches for his children’s remains in the rubble for yearsA father in the Al Bureij camp in Gaza survived an Israeli airstrike but four of his children died. He’s been trying for years to recover their bodies from the rubble, but he can’t do it alone. Six months into the ceasefire, Israel is still refusing to allow heavy equipment into Gaza, leaving an estimated 10,000 people missing under the rubble. media’s Hind Khoudary reports.Published On 10 Apr 202610 Apr 2026SaveClick here to share on social mediashare-nodesSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd media on Googleinfo
The UK PM visited the Gulf, and said many of the right things. But when you do the wrong things, words don’t matter.When UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in the Gulf this week, the message was clear: Britain was back, ready to play a stabilising diplomatic role in a region once again on the brink. Meetings were held, statements issued, alliances reaffirmed.The choreography of diplomacy was all there.But the reality unfolding around him told a different story.As Starmer moved between Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar, the decisions that actually mattered were happening elsewhere. The fragile ceasefire between…
It’s the first time that a Middle Eastern country has single-handedly checked the massive war-making capabilities of the US and Israel.Whatever the fate is of the putative two-week ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran, it remains historically significant due to novel dynamics that the war just revealed and that portend important new power relations regionally and globally.These include both positive and negative developments that are epic in their magnitude and historic in their implications for the future.Most analysis in the West has spoken of Trump searching for an “off ramp” to escape the danger he had painted himself into…
The US-Israeli campaign has failed to achieve its goals. Iran has been badly hit, and the Gulf is paying the bill too.On the 40th day of the war that Washington called “Epic Fury” and Tehran named “True Promise 4”, United States President Donald Trump and Iran’s Supreme National Security Council accepted a Pakistani-brokered ceasefire. Two weeks of ceasefire — no missiles, no air strikes — and a promise that negotiators would meet in Islamabad on Saturday, April 11, 2026.For the first time since late February, ships would be allowed to pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz. The ceasefire explicitly…