Europe
UK Chief of the Defence Staff hosts tenth Dragon Group meeting of Gulf and Middle East defence chiefs in London
Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton hosted defence chiefs from the Gulf and the wider Middle East at Trinity House, with Houthi escalation against Saudi Arabia and the US-Iran conflict on the agenda.
The United Kingdom hosted defence chiefs from across the Gulf and the Middle East in London this week for the tenth meeting of the Dragon Group, a forum for frank exchanges on regional security. The UK Ministry of Defence said the Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, chaired the gathering at Trinity House.
According to the ministry, the talks covered global and regional issues, including the impact of Houthi escalation against Saudi Arabia and the conflict between the United States and Iran. It described the aim as to “learn from recent experience” and to consider how cooperation can be deepened in support of regional security and stability.
Who sits at the table
The Dragon Group takes its name from its first meeting, held aboard HMS Dragon in 2018. It regularly brings defence chiefs together to compare views on the security challenges facing the region and the wider world. The ministry lists the members as Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, together with a representative of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The ministry framed the meeting as taking place “at a time of heightened regional instability”, adding that open and candid dialogue between trusted partners is “more important than ever”. It also stressed the longstanding defence relationships between the UK and its partners in the region. No joint communique or list of decisions was published with the announcement.
The backdrop
The two files named by the ministry have been moving quickly in recent days. Geopolitiki has reported on the Houthi claims of strikes on Saudi targets in Saudi Aramco evacuates its Dhahran headquarters – Houthis say they hit the defence ministry in Riyadh and facilities at Yanbu, and on the European Parliament’s call to list the group as terrorist in European Parliament urges EU to list the Houthis as a terrorist group and freeze their assets. On the Gulf shipping dispute, see Iran’s Rezaei: Hormuz will not reopen without Tehran’s seven conditions, with threats against US cables, data centres and AI facilities.
The Houthi claims quoted in those reports are claims by a party to the conflict and are attributed to the group, not independently confirmed here. The Dragon Group meeting itself is a consultative format: the UK statement does not say that any operational decision was taken, and it names no new commitments.
The ministry did not give the date of the next meeting.
