Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani will not attend to the 40th annual summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that will take place in Riyadh on 10 December, despite having being invited by King Salman of Saudi Arabia. Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani will lead lead the Qatari delegation, according to Qatari News Agency (QNA). Last year, Qatar participated but was only represented by its Foreign Minister.  Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al Sabah stated on 1 December that the summit will mark the beginning of the reconciliation between the two sides, since Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) imposed a blockade on Qatar on June 2017. Other events point to a defusing of tension, such as the participation of Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain in a football tournament in Qatar, or the visit paid by Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to Riyadh last month. The 40^th GCC summit will address recent regional political and security developments and their impact in the GCC countries. Iran in particular is likely to feature on the agenda. On 2 December, Oman’s Foreign Minister Yousuf bin Alawi met in Tehran with Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Council, and with FM Mohammad Javad Zarif. Bin Alawi expressed the readiness of Oman to “end the current tensions and prepare for the launch of constructive dialogue among the countries of the region”.