The Saudi king’s absence from a regional summit to be hosted by President Barack Obama shows how Gulf states, displeased by what they see as U.S. indifference to Iranian meddling in the Arab world, may hesitate to bless any nuclear deal with Tehran. Analysts and diplomats in the Middle East described King Salman’s decision to skip the meeting at Camp ...

A Moroccan F-16 warplane has crashed while on a mission with Saudi Arabia-led forces in Yemen, a Saudi military spokesman said on Monday, and Yemen’s dominant Houthi militia said tribesmen shot down the aircraft. The loss of the Moroccan military jet and intensifying volleys of heavy-weapons fire across the border between the Iran-allied Houthis and Saudi forces could endanger a ...

France and Saudi Arabia believe that any future deal between Iran and six major powers must ensure not to destabilise the region further and threaten Iran’s neighbours, the two countries said ahead of a summit in Riyadh on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia invited French President Francois Hollande, whose country is deemed to have a tough stance in Iran nuclear negotiations, to ...

Heavy Saudi-led airstrikes targeted several airports Monday across Yemen even as the kingdom’s foreign minister said that officials were considering a cease-fire to allow aid into the Arab world’s poorest country. In the southern city of Aden, more than 150 airstrikes hit the city’s airport, witnesses and security officials said. Houthi rebels and their allies are locked in fierce fighting there against ...

Saudi-led airstrikes targeted Iran-backed rebels and their allies in Yemen Wednesday, hours after Riyadh declared an end to a nearly monthlong air campaign. The Shiite forces later said they would welcome United Nations-led peace talks to end a conflict that’s killed hundreds without dislodging them from the capital. The rebels, known as Houthis, say they call for a resumption of ...

Saudi Arabia has reduced contractual crude supplies to some customers in Japan and South Korea since March by trimming the volumes of oil loaded, six industry sources familiar with the matter said on Monday. The move, which is limited to some buyers in North Asia, came even as output by the world’s top crude exporter hit a record in March ...

A Sydney grandfather jailed alongside murderers and given the lash after being caught with home brewed alcohol in Saudi Arabia has now been told he cannot leave the country. Peter Mutty, 57, from Rosebery in Sydney’s inner south, has now been forced to sell his home to cover costs while he remains trapped in limbo in the Gulf state unable ...

A Saudi policeman was shot dead and three were wounded during a raid which descended into a gunbattle in the eastern Saudi city of Al-Awamiya Sunday, state news agency SPA said. “An exchange of fire led to the injury of Cpl. Majid bin Turki al-Qahtani, and his death after being taken to hospital – may God have mercy on him and accept ...

A woman in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to 70 lashes after ‘insulting’ a man on private messaging service WhatsApp. The unnamed 32-year-old will also have to pay a 20,000 Saudi Riyal (£3,604) fine for tarnishing the reputation of the man, a court has ruled. The case was filed at Al Qatif criminal court in eastern Saudi Arabia by the ...

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah appointed new ministers for health, higher education, transport, agriculture, information and Islamic affairs Monday as part of the kingdom’s broadest reshuffle of second-tier posts in years. The most important government portfolios, including finance, oil, interior, foreign affairs and defense, were not changed in the reshuffle, which was announced in a royal decree carried by state media. ...