Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah dies at 91

Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the architect of the nation’s modern foreign policy and mediator in some of the worst crises to grip the Gulf, died on Tuesday at the age of 91, the royal court announced.

Sheikh Sabah had earned a reputation as a shrewd, unshakeable leader who helped steer his country through the 1990 Iraqi invasion, crashes in global oil markets and crises in Parliament and on the streets.

“With great sadness and sorrow, we mourn... the death of Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of the State of Kuwait,” said Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah, Minister in Charge of Royal Affairs, in a televised statement. State television had cut its regular programming and switched to a broadcast of Koranic recital before the announcement.