Gulf States

American  

[guhlf steyts] / ˈgʌlf ˌsteɪts /

plural noun

1. the states of the U.S. bordering on the Gulf of Mexico: Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.

2. Also called Persian Gulf States.  the oil-producing countries bordering on or located near the Persian Gulf: Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

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Gulf States British  

plural noun

1. the oil-producing states around the Persian Gulf: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman

2. the states of the US that border on the Gulf of Mexico: Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas

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Example Sentences

“This constellation of foreign investment from China and from Gulf States, with complex and sometimes competing relationships with the United States, demands rigorous, not perfunctory review,” Booker and the others wrote.

From Los Angeles Times

Appeared in the March 18, 2026, print edition as 'Gulf States Want to See Iran Crippled'.

From The Wall Street Journal

“It’s really going for the jugular, and in a major way,” said Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute, a Washington think tank.

From The Wall Street Journal

“Rough Rider did a significant amount of damage to the Houthis,” said Gregory Johnsen, a fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute think tank.

From The Wall Street Journal

“No regime has the resources to fight the society, whose values have changed since 1979,” said Ali Alfoneh, an Iran expert with the Arab Gulf States Institute, a think tank in Washington.

From The Wall Street Journal