https://www.scmp.com/rss/523413/feed The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington (AGSIW) is an independent, non-profit research institute based in Washington, DC, USA. Established in 2015, its primary mission is to provide expert analysis and insight on the Arab Gulf states, fostering a deeper understanding of their social, economic and political diversity. AGSIW focuses on key areas such as Gulf politics, economy, energy and regional security. Through publications, programmes and scholarly exchanges, it aims to inform U.S.... en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Tom Hussain Tom Hussain A month after the US and Israel launched the war with Iran, nothing seems to be going according to President Donald Trump’s plan for a conflict lasting four to six weeks. Despite the assassinations of most of the Islamic Republic’s political and military leaders, the regime shows no signs of collapse. Similarly, wave after wave of US and Israeli air strikes may have degraded Iran’s ballistic missile and drone capabilities, but they still look set to remain a potent threat to the region for the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3348239/trumps-iran-gamble-falters-war-drags-amid-concerns-long-term-chaos?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3348239/trumps-iran-gamble-falters-war-drags-amid-concerns-long-term-chaos?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Mar 2026 07:05:28 +0000 Tom Hussain Tom Hussain The arrival of 2026 has brought anything but peace to the Middle East, caught in the gravitational pull of rival ambitions and with the uneasy sense that the next war may already be under way. From Gaza to Syria, conflict hotspots are flaring as the region finds itself at the epicentre of a global order in flux. The result is a landscape in which rivalries are multiplying, former partners are pitted against each other and more violence appears inevitable, analysts say. “While it is still early... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3341039/saudi-uae-rift-risks-tearing-middle-east-apart-anything-can-happen?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3341039/saudi-uae-rift-risks-tearing-middle-east-apart-anything-can-happen?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 Jan 2026 08:00:16 +0000 Tom Hussain Tom Hussain Expectations of change at the top of Iran’s Islamic Republic are growing as nationwide protests over surging living costs unite an unusually broad swathe of society – from pro-regime merchants and the conservative rural poor to the cosmopolitan urban middle class – for the first time since the 1979 revolution. Fuelled by the rial’s dramatic collapse following Iran’s 12-day conflict with Israel and the United States in June, the unrest has become a lightning rod for public anger at corruption,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3339404/protest-fury-pushes-iran-edge-social-revolution?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3339404/protest-fury-pushes-iran-edge-social-revolution?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 Jan 2026 05:30:10 +0000 Tom Hussain Tom Hussain The US is poised to supply Saudi Arabia with its most advanced F-35 stealth fighter jets, a move that analysts say reflects a new era of Middle East policy in which countering Chinese influence is fast becoming as important for Washington as maintaining Israeli military superiority. It would make Saudi Arabia only the second country in the region, after Israel, to operate the fifth-generation jet. US President Donald Trump announced the decision following a meeting with Saudi Arabia’s visiting... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3333936/china-factor-behind-trumps-sale-f-35s-saudi-arabia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3333936/china-factor-behind-trumps-sale-f-35s-saudi-arabia?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Nov 2025 09:30:13 +0000 Tom Hussain Tom Hussain Far from being a historic deal to end war in the Middle East as claimed by US President Donald Trump, the Gaza peace declaration has only established a bloc of regional countries that will work with Washington for now to stabilise the region, observers say. Composed of Egypt, Arab monarchies led by Saudi Arabia, and Nato member Turkey, this “Axis of Stabilisation” in the making will continue to diplomatically engage Iran and its “Axis of Resistance” allies, including Hamas, to reduce the risk of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3329191/without-palestinian-statehood-trumps-gaza-peace-plan-just-mirage?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3329191/without-palestinian-statehood-trumps-gaza-peace-plan-just-mirage?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Oct 2025 03:30:14 +0000 Tom Hussain Tom Hussain With UN sanctions set to be reactivated against Iran on Sunday, Tehran finds itself facing a tough choice between capitulation to US President Donald Trump’s demands for “unconditional surrender” over its nuclear programme and further Israeli attacks. With an equally unpalatable option of mediation by distrustful Gulf Arab neighbours that it has intimidated for decades, Tehran is playing for time in the hope that Washington can be persuaded to resume bilateral negotiations that were scuttled by... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3326591/iran-faces-no-win-situation-un-sanctions-threat-israeli-strikes-loom?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3326591/iran-faces-no-win-situation-un-sanctions-threat-israeli-strikes-loom?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Sep 2025 00:36:21 +0000 Tom Hussain Tom Hussain A week after Israel bombed Qatar, Saudi Arabia has signed a mutual defence pact with Pakistan in what analysts say will be an extension of Islamabad’s nuclear umbrella over the Gulf kingdom and is a clear signal to the United States for failing to intercept Israeli missiles during the attack. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the agreement in Riyadh on Wednesday, which stipulated that “any aggression against either country shall be... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3325972/saudi-arabia-pakistan-pact-sends-nuclear-umbrella-signal-over-israels-attack-qatar?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3325972/saudi-arabia-pakistan-pact-sends-nuclear-umbrella-signal-over-israels-attack-qatar?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Sep 2025 06:59:00 +0000 Tom Hussain Tom Hussain When Israeli jets tore through Doha’s skies last week, striking a residential block that housed Hamas negotiators, they may also have set in motion something Israel has long feared: the birth of an Arab military alliance. The proposal, under discussion at an emergency Arab-Islamic summit that opened in Doha on Sunday, marks the most serious push towards regional military integration in decades. Diplomatic sources and Arab media reported that the summit was poised to endorse the creation of a... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3325543/arab-nato-israels-qatar-strikes-give-arab-militaries-reason-unite?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3325543/arab-nato-israels-qatar-strikes-give-arab-militaries-reason-unite?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 Sep 2025 04:10:50 +0000 Tom Hussain Tom Hussain Nearly two years after Hamas militants stormed southern Israel, the war in Gaza has entered a darker, deadlier phase. The territory now faces a reckoning its residents describe as annihilation. Israel’s latest military campaign in Gaza and its West Bank annexation plans have left observers warning that the age-old Palestinian presence across both could soon be erased. On Wednesday, Israel’s government unveiled plans to annex 82 per cent of the occupied West Bank. The escalation comes despite... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3324541/israels-annexation-plans-fuel-fears-final-solution-palestinians?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3324541/israels-annexation-plans-fuel-fears-final-solution-palestinians?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Sep 2025 08:00:24 +0000 Tom Hussain Tom Hussain Global gas giant Qatar has pledged to invest US$103 billion in Africa in the coming years, joining Gulf neighbours the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia as the continent’s biggest financiers amid waning interest from the West and China. Six sub-Saharan African countries are set to benefit from agreements signed during the second half of last month with Al-Mansour Holdings, a conglomerate owned by a branch of Qatar’s ruling al-Thani dynasty. Key critical metals producer the Democratic... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3324228/qatar-joins-gulf-surge-us103-billion-african-nations-wests-interest-wanes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3324228/qatar-joins-gulf-surge-us103-billion-african-nations-wests-interest-wanes?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Sep 2025 04:00:10 +0000 Tom Hussain Tom Hussain Two weeks after the United States launched air strikes on three of Iran’s key nuclear sites, mounting evidence is puncturing President Donald Trump’s boasts that the facilities were “obliterated”. From the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog to leading American non-proliferation experts, scepticism is growing over Washington’s assertions that the strikes set back Tehran’s nuclear weapons ambitions “by years”. Trump “appears to have already lost interest”, according to Barbara Slavin, a... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3317017/think-trump-obliterated-irans-nuclear-programme-dont-be-so-sure?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3317017/think-trump-obliterated-irans-nuclear-programme-dont-be-so-sure?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Jul 2025 08:30:14 +0000