Gulf Cooperation Council

And when people say the Gulf is the exception, that this region is too hot, too fast growing, too competitive for anyone to be hugging anything, I wanted to check that against the actual data before repeating it on air.

What I found isn't the GCC is the exception.

It's that there is no single GCC story in 2026.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are running two different playbooks right now, and lumping them into one Gulf labour market headline hides the more useful story in both.

Start with the United States, because this is where job hugging actually has numbers behind it.

If you'd only read the headlines about this region over the past couple of years, you'd expect the opposite story.

Fast growth, hot hiring, people switching jobs on confidence rather than freezing out of fear.

When I actually went looking for the data to back that up, the single source GCC turnover is surging claim that circulated earlier this year didn't hold up under scrutiny.

And on the contrary, this pressure will backfire.

The Saudi foreign minister also said the patience of GCC countries was not unlimited and that if Tehran's attacks on its neighbours continue, they reserve the right to take military action against Iran once all diplomatic options have been exhausted.

What I care about now is that the attacks on my country and on my neighbouring countries that are not involved in this conflict end.

That's all I'm interested in.

The UAE also had to shut down two of its facilities due to falling debris from a missile interception.

And several missiles and drones were also launched at gas fields in the east of Saudi Arabia, but Riyadh said those were intercepted.

Since this conflict began more than two weeks ago, GCC leaders have been at pains to stress they would defend their territories but not attack Iran.

But the targeting of their critical energy infrastructure is putting relations between Iran and its Gulf neighbors under increasing strain.

The mention of Mecca and Medina drew swift condemnation.

The Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jaisal Muhammad Al-Badawi, called the interceptions a grave violation of the sanctity of the holy sites.

The Houthis rejected that account outright.

Their military spokesman, Yehi Asari, said the group's operations targeted Saudi oil facilities and military bases, and the group described the Saudi claim as a lie.

And on the more concrete side, of course, as you know, last year, Turkey became ASEAN's 12th dialogue partner.

And then we've also expanded to holding ASEAN Gulf Cooperation Council summits.

We've had the second one, I think, was it last year or the year before? And ASEAN's looking to expand relations with the Pacific Island Forum, Pacific Alliance, as well as the MACOSA.

and different regions of the world.

And on the more concrete side, of course, as you know, last year, Turkey became ASEAN's 12th dialogue partner.

And then we've also expanded to holding ASEAN Gulf Cooperation Council summits.

We've had the second one, I think, was it last year or the year before? And ASEAN's looking to expand relations with the Pacific Island Forum, Pacific Alliance, as well as the MACOSA.

and different regions of the world.

What it is that you do here in Dubai?

Really simply put, we help people who are looking for jobs in Dubai and in the wider GCC land jobs with great companies over here.

Now, are you looking at people who are already based here or is it anybody around the world who wants to come? And is it Dubai, the UAE, GCC? What is the area of focus?

Everyone.

So as long as you're a sort of professional and you're a skilled professional looking for a job in this part of the world, then we are helping them secure jobs over here, get interviews and ultimately receive an offer from an organization.

In terms of which locations we support with, it is primarily Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Doha.

But we do get people saying, hey, I want a job in Kuwait City.

We're supporting with the entire GCC, but naturally with demand, it's primarily the big four.

I certainly agree with you that this tendency to refer to Ansar Allah as merely a proxy of Iran or also as a terrorist organization is just, I mean, does not well informed and not that analytically useful if you're trying to understand them and their actions.

I think, you know, most recently I would say that we saw, you know, An instance where Iran and the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council were all supposed to meet in Salalah, a city in southern Oman, to discuss the possibility of a in the unlikely event that Trump manages to reach some kind of agreement to end the war, then that this was going to be ready, the GCC states and Iran would have worked out kind of how are we going to manage and administer the Strait of Hormuz, perhaps with fees, but recognizing that these states also have an interest in And essentially Iran wants that.

Iran wants to show, look, we have managed to figure out with the other countries that manage this territory or that are adjacent to this waterway.

And Ansar Allah, well, the Saudis called it off.

In total, 10 ballistic missiles aimed at the south were intercepted.

The Gulf Cooperation Council's secretary general called it a grave violation of the sanctity of the holy sites.

The Houthis deny targeting Muslim holy sites.

Translators note, Tehran and Riyadh describe the same meeting differently.