The US may have pulled the trigger on the Iran war, but it is the oil-producing Gulf that will pay the price, Gulf sources and analysts say, signalling unease in ties between a region under Iranian attack and the superpower it relies on for protection. Behind the scenes, resentment is mounting in Gulf Arab capitals at being drawn into a war they neither initiated nor endorsed but are now paying for economically and militarily, with airports, hotels, ports and military and oil installations hit by Iranian strikes, said three regional sources, who declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak publicly. "It is not our war. We did not want this conflict, yet we are paying the price in our security and our economy," Ebtesam Al-Ketbi, President of the Emirates Policy Center, told Reuters. That doesn't mean Iran is "innocent", she said. Gulf governments had assured Tehran they would not allow their territories or airspace to be used by...
The European Commission has threatened to withdraw funding from the Venice Biennale art exhibition if organisers proceed with plans to allow Russia to reopen its pavilion at this year's edition. Russia's pavilion at the art fair was closed after Moscow's full‑scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which triggered the exclusion of Russian artists and institutions from major European cultural events. "Member States, institutions and organisations must act in line with EU sanctions and avoid giving a platform to individuals who have actively supported or justified the Kremlin's aggression against Ukraine," an EU statement said. It added it would examine further action "including the suspension or termination of an ongoing EU grant to the Biennale Foundation," which organises the contemporary visual arts event that runs from May to December in Venice's historic shipyards, known as the Arsenale. Biennale President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco described the fest...