The Read
Riyadh is more assertive than at any point since the 1970s, and more exposed. The kingdom now owns the wars it once outsourced.
Saudi Arabia threw its political weight openly behind US-Israeli strikes on Iran and brought Pakistani combat forces onto its soil, abandoning the quiet-hedger posture it has run since the 1973 oil embargo era.
The UAE's exit from OPEC has fractured the institutional lever Riyadh used to discipline Gulf production for half a century, turning a junior partner into a competitive peer.
The new Europe Gulf Forum institutionalizes Europe-Gulf coordination outside US-mediated frameworks, marking the first durable diplomatic architecture in decades that does not run through Washington.
LAST 30 DAYS
24
35
Δ +11
APR 20Mon
UAE Withdrawal from OPEC
MAY 01Fri
UAE Exits OPEC Amid Post-Iran-War Strategic Realignment
MAY 17Sun
Inaugural Europe Gulf Forum Convenes in Athens
Saudi Arabia openly backed US-Israeli strikes on Iran for the first time and locked in a mutual defense pact with Pakistan. The UAE walked out of OPEC. The US security guarantee no longer functions as advertised.
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