White House talks with Qatari PM, milestone GCC railway deal and UAE foreign trade hits record

A concise round-up of the region’s top news stories this morning

The National

November 09, 2026

In today's episode of Trending Middle East, Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman will meet US President Donald Trump at the White House, as efforts to mediate in the US-Iran war face renewed challenges. Mr Trump has said that further strikes on Iran are unlikely if negotiations succeed, but US forces remain on alert.

Gulf countries have signed a milestone agreement to build a 2,100-kilometre railway network connecting the region from Kuwait to Oman.

In Israel, President Isaac Herzog has given opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot the opportunity to form a government, dealing a setback to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose coalition lost its parliamentary majority in last month's election.

The US has ordered the deportation of Lebanon's consul general in Detroit, Ibrahim Charara, over controversial social media posts that appeared to celebrate the 1983 Hezbollah lorry bombing of US and French military barracks in Beirut.

And the UAE's foreign trade reached a record of nearly Dh3 trillion in the first nine months of this year, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, said in a post on X.

Trending Middle East is AI-assisted, using original reporting published in The National and curated and edited by humans.

Updated:

November 09, 2026, 5:20 AM

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