Gulf

1. Groundhog day in Iran
2. At LEAP: AI deals and…
3. … Abu Dhabi tech firms
4. PIF’s ROSHN fills CEO void
5. Neumann flows to Dubai

The Muhammad Ali of Clankers.

US returns to Iran tit-for-tat

US President Donald Trump threatened retaliatory strikes against Iran after Tehran targeted American forces in Jordan and the UAE — a potential return to tit-for-tat strikes that have kept the Gulf in limbo for six months. Two supertankers carrying Saudi oil were struck on Monday, Reuters reported, casting further doubt on Trump’s repeated claims that the Strait of Hormuz is controlled by the US and safe for navigation. Oil prices rose above $92 a barrel on Tuesday.

The threats are indicative of the reality that US administration officials privately acknowledge: There’s no good way out of the war, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott wrote. Renewed fighting would also come at a precarious moment for Trump, as high gas prices drag on Republicans’ midterm chances. The president will host oil executives at the White House later today as the administration looks for ways to lower the price at the pump.

Saudi Arabia’s data center gold rush

Computing capacity — and just how much of it the Gulf has planned — is the headline figure coming out of LEAP, the technology conference running in Riyadh this week. Public Investment Fund’s AI arm HUMAIN is pushing ahead with hundreds of megawatts of new capacity, and a previously announced joint venture with chipmaker AMD and networking firm Cisco aims to deploy up to 250 megawatts beginning in 2027. The venture is on track to develop up to 1 gigawatt by 2030.

AWS and HUMAIN will separately make up to 50 megawatts available in Saudi Arabia’s first AI Zone by 2028, running on cutting-edge Nvidia chips, according to a statement. The kingdom’s data center boom is minting billionaires: Two Saudi brothers have raked in about $1.4 billion as their once-sleepy IT firm has pivoted to AI. Shares in Al Moammar Information Systems Co. hit a record high last week after it said a data center project with HUMAIN was being expanded, Bloomberg reported.

UAE AI firm courts Saudi security

Abu Dhabi-based Neurovia AI is pitching software to Saudi security agencies that it says can compress video files by up to 95%, lowering the cost of the vast camera networks used to police Islam’s holiest cities. The smaller files move faster through AI systems, allowing security staff to detect fights, weapons, or other threats within “milliseconds,” CEO Khalifa Mohammed Alshehhi told Semafor. The company has been speaking to government entities, but has yet to secure a Saudi contract.

Winning access to some of Saudi Arabia’s most sensitive video networks would be a difficult sell for any foreign company, and especially one from Abu Dhabi, with strains between the two countries surfacing in border delays and refused visas. Neurovia’s answer is that it never holds the footage and can set up systems where data never leaves the kingdom.

— Manal Albarakati

PIF megaproject ends CEO search

Saudi Arabia’s ROSHN Group has hired its first full-time chief executive in more than two years, filling one of several leadership vacancies at companies controlled by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund. Naaman Atallah, currently president of real estate at UAE conglomerate Al-Futtaim, is set to join the developer in the coming days, according to people familiar with the matter. ROSHN confirmed the appointment.

ROSHN’s long search — coupled with the number of empty CEO offices at top Saudi companies — highlights the challenge of finding executives to lead state-controlled firms as they face the dual demand to cut spending and deliver on the kingdom’s economic transformation plan.

— Matthew Martin

Adam Neumann in DIFC

Flow, the residential real estate venture from WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann, is opening an office in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). The new office will oversee expansion in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and the US, including its first real estate acquisitions in the Emirates, The National reported.

Flow has owned apartment buildings in Riyadh since 2024, when it acquired 1,000 units (retrofitting them in taupe and natural wood). It now has 8,500 homes under management or in development there, as well as in Florida and California — for comparison, Emaar has developed around 130,000 units in Dubai alone. Despite the Iran war, Dubai property has held up: It’s still a buyer’s market, but apartment rentals and sales are only down by single digits.

Checking In

• Oman’s budget carrier SalamAir will base a plane in Salalah from late October, making it the first airline to put down roots in the country’s second city. SalamAir will operate direct flights to Calicut, Chattogram, and Jeddah. Oman is leaning on the monsoon-cooled south to spread tourism beyond the capital. — Aviation Week

Deals

• Qatar Investment Authority co-led a $200 million Series D round in autonomous freight startup Gatik. The US startup is expanding its partnership with PepsiCo.
• Mubadala Capital agreed to acquire a majority stake in Arrive Logistics, an Austin, Texas-based truckload brokerage. Arrive, founded in 2014, has about 2,000 employees and moves freight for more than 5,500 customers across the US, Canada, and Mexico.

Debt

• Saudi Arabia is reportedly in talks to borrow at least $8 billion in a new loan through its National Debt Management Center, and Aramco may also take on new debt. The kingdom has been a net borrower in recent years as it invests in new industries to reduce its dependence on oil. — Bloomberg

Defense

• Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Türkiye held the first meeting of their Mecca Defense Alliance in Istanbul on Monday. The three agreed to set up a NATO-style secretariat in Saudi Arabia, headed in its initial phase by a Pakistani secretary-general on a three-year term. Türkiye’s foreign minister said the members are preparing a mechanism to admit new countries.

Backflipping robo-dogs made by China’s Unitree square up in a boxing ring at LEAP in Riyadh, as gloved humanoids wait ringside. Unitree is looking for new buyers after the US barred foreign-made robots in July; its shares surged more than sixfold following its Shanghai market debut last month.