Suhail Al Mazrouei tells The National withdrawal is aimed at preparing the Emirates for the future The UAE’s decision to withdraw from Opec is “purely a policy move” aimed at preparing the country for the future, Suhail Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, has told The National. The world’s …

Tehran widens diplomacy to regional and global players while indirect US talks remain uncertain. Islamabad, Pakistan – Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has discussed with regional interlocutors a proposal aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz but deferring talks with the US on Tehran’s nuclear programme for later, during a …

Announcement of its exit on Friday comes as Gulf producers are already struggling to ship exports through the Strait of Hormuz. The United ‌Arab Emirates has announced its decision to quit OPEC and OPEC+ to focus on “national interests”, dealing ⁠a heavy ⁠blow to the oil-exporting groups at a time …

The United States has been flying cash — around $400-$500 million at a time — to Baghdad for decades. However, The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the U.S. Treasury had partially suspended dollar shipments tied to Iraq’s oil exports until Baghdad cracks down on Iranian-linked militias. Since the outbreak …

On April 24, 2026, a day before Iran conveyed its new proposal to the U.S. regarding lifting the U.S. blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for a guarantee of freedom of passage in the Strait, Majlis Deputy Speaker Ali Nikzad said in a speech to residents …

A prerequisite of serious talks is that the country’s leadership consolidates majority national support for such a process. When President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called for negotiations with Israel several weeks ago, their primary objective was to derail the Israeli onslaught against Lebanon. To an extent they …

For Lukashenko, abandoning Western internet services and embracing Russian equivalents would mean tying himself even closer to Moscow. It’s a running joke that Belarusians are a season ahead of their Russian counterparts when it comes to the TV series that is political repression in their respective countries. However, the Kremlin’s …

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Islamist groups and currents entered Syria’s political and organizational life after the fall of the former Syrian regime, following decades in which they had either been confined to a traditional religious current that avoided politics or, when they tried to enter politics or civic work outside that traditional structure, were …

Following Ursula von der Leyen’s gaffe equating Turkey to Russia and China, relations with Ankara risk deteriorating even further. Without better, more consistent diplomatic messaging, how can the EU pretend to be a geopolitical power? The importance of consistency in foreign policy has rarely been demonstrated as vividly as when …