Affairs
Rising rhetoric and deepening Gulf tensions push the Middle East to the brink
As the US-Israeli war against Iran drags on, the rhetoric among the latter’s fellow Gulf states is beginning to reach fever pitch.
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Opinion
What does the lacklustre redesign of the British banknote really tell us about the state of the nation?
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Iran’s attacks on the UAE have revealed a nation whose resilience is built on diversity
On the morning of 7 March, as the debris from intercepted Iranian attacks was being cleared from streets in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, a colleague sent me a photograph. It showed the terrace of…
Balendra Shah’s path from hip hop to high office marks a new opportunity for Nepal
Pretty much every headline that has heralded Nepal’s new prime minister, Balendra Shah, has referred to him as a “rapper”. This is not inaccurate – he owed his early prominence to his prowess on…
‘Work with the opposition inside Iran’: John Bolton’s advice to Trump as Operation Epic Fury drags on
The former US national security adviser has adopted a voice of moderation, criticising the Trump administration’s approach as ill-conceived, dismissive of the Iranian people and bound to fail.
Global crises test the real-estate sector but Mipim’s mood was resolute
“How are you finding the mood this year?” People would ask as they came to the Monocle Radio booth at Mipim, the world’s largest real-estate fair, which concluded yesterday in Cannes. The question was…
Lisbon mayor Carlos Moedas on urban regeneration, the city’s soul and where he gets his ‘pastel de nata’
As Lisbon’s global profile rises, so does the pressures on its housing, infrastructure and public spaces. At Mipim 2026, mayor Carlos Moedas outlines his strategy for keeping the Portuguese capital welcoming and liveable.
10 takeaways from Mipim 2026: The ideas, projects and robot homes that everyone was talking about
The world’s biggest real-estate gathering returned to Cannes with ambitious ideas for developments from Baghdad to the Black Sea. These were the ideas, people and projects shaping the conversation at Mipim 2026.
Why does Iran target the UAE more than the rest of the Gulf states?
About 58 per cent of Iran’s attacks on its Gulf neighbours have been directed at the UAE. We find out why.
‘Escalation would bring a much wider war to our doorstep,’ says UAE’s minister of state, Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi
Al Kaabi speaks to Monocle about the conflict’s impact on the UAE, the risks to global trade and why the country believes that de-escalation remains the only viable path forward.
Who is Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader?
After the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by a US-Israeli strike in late February, his son Mojtaba has been named as the Iranian regime’s new leader. What do we know about this mysterious successor?
