Throughout 2022, the influence of Gulf Arab states on the international stage increased. While US President Joe Biden and other Western leaders have courted Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prince Minister Mohammed bin Salman (MbS), many European countries have turned to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members for assistance with energy challenges in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Both trends highlight how a host of international circumstances enabled Gulf Arab nations to remind actors worldwide of their importance in global affairs. Over the past 12 months, GCC states made it increas…