Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement in Makkah on August 7, capping nearly a year of trilateral talks; the pact's mutual-defence clause means an armed attack on any signatory is treated as an attack on all three; Indian outlets frame it as a potential 'Islamic NATO'; Middle East Eye called it 'first in kind' among the three states; The National (UAE) reported the agreement aims to 'strengthen collective security and promote peace'

US President Donald Trump said on August 2 that he had agreed to cancel a planned strike on Iran, subject to a rapid deal, after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called to caution him against fresh attacks; Iran's top diplomat had earlier warned of a decisive response to any US-Israeli aggression

Saudi Arabia hosted a founding meeting in Riyadh on July 30 and announced a multinational maritime defence coalition to protect the Bab al-Mandab strait and Red Sea shipping; 14 nations signed up at the first meeting, while Saudi Arabia has proposed expanding the alliance to 43 members; the coalition aims to protect shipping lanes under renewed Houthi attacks that have pushed oil prices higher

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman formally signed a 30-year nuclear cooperation agreement on July 23, 2026, giving Saudi Arabia a conditional pathway to domestic uranium enrichment; the deal drops the nonproliferation conditions the US required of the UAE in 2009 and triggered bipartisan US Congressional concern and unified alarm from four of Israel's senior opposition leaders, while Prime Minister Netanyahu's office has not commented

The Houthi group declared an immediate maritime embargo on Saudi Arabia on July 20, citing what it called an unjust Saudi siege on Yemen, a move that analysts say threatens Saudi oil export routes and draws the Houthi conflict closer to the global energy market

Traffic through the Strait reached roughly 32-42% of pre-war normal by early July; Morgan Stanley cut oil forecasts twice in two weeks, citing a supply overhang as Middle Eastern crude floods back into a market weakened by Chinese demand softness

A new Sunni alignment is forming around Riyadh, one that excludes Abu Dhabi, positions Saudi Arabia as the Arab world's pivotal state post-Iran war, and places Pakistan's nuclear capability inside a coherent geopolitical coalition for the first time

A company helicopter went down at 03:00 GMT Sunday at the world's largest oil loading terminal, two days after Ras Tanura reopened to tankers following a four-month halt; all 14 passengers were Saudi nationals, and Riyadh opened an investigation

Saudi Arabia's US$500 billion Public Investment Fund megaproject in Tabuk province, flagship of Vision 2030, now sharply scaled back after The Line's indefinite halt in 2025-2026.

The flagship of Vision 2030 cuts its population target to 100,000 and faces a bigger bill to cancel contracts than to build, as Riyadh resets its megaproject

Transport ministers in Riyadh signed two memoranda of understanding on June 9 for railway and logistics cooperation along a revived Hejaz Railway route; the feasibility study is due by year-end and completion is targeted in three to four years

Seven members add 188,000 bpd for July, but Saudi Arabia's quota sits far above what the closed Strait let it actually export

The US-Iran MoU sends Brent toward $77 and Aramco cuts its July price to Asia, even as the war banked Riyadh a routing windfall through the East-West pipeline

A $33.5bn Q1 hole, most of the year's planned shortfall in one quarter, as military outlays jumped and Hormuz throttled oil exports despite high prices

Most for drug offences and many of them foreign nationals, with the total under King Salman now past 2,000, as the kingdom courts the world on Vision 2030