The White House said on Friday (February 23, 2018) that US president Donald Trump will host Gulf leaders amid efforts to try to resolve a dispute between the Gulf neighbors.

Iran has fired a diplomatic warning shot at Washington by raising the prospect of building nuclear reactors for ships while staying within the limits set by its atomic deal with major powers, a U.N. nuclear watchdog report showed on Thursday.

Iran will withdraw from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal if there is no economic benefit from it and major banks continue to fail to do business with the Islamic Republic, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia has no interest in participating in a European Union-style regional security alliance as proposed by Qatar, its Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Monday.

Islamic State militants ambushed a convoy of pro-government militia fighters near the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk late on Sunday, killing at least 27 of them, the government-backed Popular Mobilisation Forces said on Monday.

Former US Secretary of State John Kerry said that the late Saudi King, Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, asked the United States to bomb Iran.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday it would adhere to commitments under its 2015 international nuclear agreement, signed with six world powers to limit its disputed nuclear program.

Saudi women need not wear the abaya - the loose-fitting, full-length robes symbolic of religious faith - a senior member of the top Muslim clerical body said, another indication of the Kingdom’s efforts towards modernization.

The Kurdish Asayish police force in Iraq last year executed dozens of Islamic State fighters in their custody and disposed of their bodies in a mass grave northwest of Mosul, Human Rights Watch said in report on Friday.

An Israeli cabinet minister voiced hope on Friday that Saudi Arabia would allow Air India to fly to and from Tel Aviv through Saudi airspace.

The West must ensure the Iran 2015 nuclear deal succeeds before trying to negotiate other issues, a senior Iranian official said in a rare public suggestion.

France has shown no concrete signs of reducing or suspending weapons sales to a Saudi-led coalition despite warnings that some of its weapons could be used in the war in Yemen, sources aware of the issue said on Friday.

The United States welcomed reports that four U.S.-funded cranes operated by the United Nations World Food Programme were unloading supplies in Yemen’s Houthi-controlled Hodeidah port.

The West must ensure the Iran 2015 nuclear deal succeeds before trying to negotiate other issues, a senior Iranian official said in a rare public suggestion Tehran could discuss matters such as its regional activities or missile program with world powers.

France will encourage its firms to do business in Iran despite uncertainty over a landmark 2015 nuclear deal putting the business environment in “limbo”, a senior French finance official said on Thursday.

Air India said on Wednesday it plans to begin direct flights to Israel and has proposed they pass through Saudi airspace, a route so far off-limits to Israel-bound commercial planes.

The Saudi Arabian government has begun to award contracts for the development of a huge business zone in the northwest of the country, asking local construction companies to build five palaces there, sources close to the matter told Reuters.

Iraqi forces launched a security operation along a planned oil transit route to Iran on Wednesday, saying it was clearing and “destroying sleeper cells” in the mountainous border area where two armed groups operate.

U.S. forces have begun reducing their numbers in Iraq after Iraqi authorities declared victory over Islamic State, an Iraqi government spokesman said on Monday.

Gulf officials have ruled out any plans by GCC states to raise the Value Added Tax (VAT) rate to 10 percent.