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The widespread military conflict between America, Israel and Iran in West Asia (Middle East) has now started affecting the economies of the Gulf countries. Due to this geopolitical tension, Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil producing country, has taken a big and unexpected step. Riyadh has suspended with immediate effect new contracts with leading western consulting and advisory companies working on billion-dollar projects in the country. Along with this, there is also a huge delay in the payments for the work done earlier. According to the report of the prestigious newspaper ‘Financial Times’, the Saudi government has had to adopt this tough stance to deal with the increasing fiscal deficit and fluctuations in oil income. Global supply chain disrupted due to blockage of Strait of Hormuz The US-Israel-Iran war that lasted for almost three months has badly affected the world’s most sensitive shipping route ‘Strait of Hormuz’. The effective closure of this route by Iran has led to a huge surge in global crude oil prices, complete disruption of supply chains and severe shortage of many essential commodities. Although a ceasefire was reached between America and Iran in April 2026, the tension in the Red Sea and Gulf region remains the same due to peace talks being completely stalled. McKinsey, BCG and ‘Big Four’ companies have to wait until July According to the Financial Times, as the military conflict in the region intensified, the Saudi government secretly put a hold on new contracts. Senior executives of the world’s top consulting firms such as McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the ‘Big Four’ (PwC, EY, Deloitte, KPMG) accounting companies have confirmed that Riyadh has not made any official announcement in this regard, but has informally given strong signals to everyone. An official of a consulting firm said, "We have been clearly told that no new payments will be made till July 2026." At the same time, another official informed that the government has postponed all new agreements and decisions regarding settlement of old bills till the end of the second quarter of the year. Crisis looms on Crown Prince’s dream project ‘Vision 2030’. This decision of Saudi Arabia seems to have a direct impact on the most ambitious and much talked about project ‘Vision 2030’ of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). The main objective of this plan is to eliminate the Saudi economy’s dependence on oil, achieve economic diversification and make the country the hub of the future modern global economy. To realize this vision, these foreign consulting companies were hired at huge fees. But, experts say that in view of Iran’s military capability to block the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia is now having to change its strategy. In view of the country’s security, Saudi Arabia is having to drastically increase its defense budget and make additional investments to secure the Red Sea infrastructure, which has devastated the country’s financial budget. Saudi Finance Ministry rejected the claims, presented figures. On the other hand, to avoid defamation in the international media, the Finance Ministry of Saudi Arabia has partially rejected these claims. Issuing a statement, the ministry said the government is ensuring clear returns (ROI) from all its investments and consultancy services in line with the strategic goals of ‘Vision 2030’ and this is a normal process of rationalizing expenses. Saving its credibility, the ministry claimed that even in the current year 2026, the government has completed the payment of 99.5 percent of the bills within the stipulated time and the legitimate payment of any company will not be stopped. Accusations are being leveled on Gulf countries, gap of distrust in the Middle East. It is noteworthy that after this destructive conflict that started on 28 February 2026, the atmosphere of distrust in the Middle East is at its peak. Iran has recently made serious allegations against Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of secretly helping America and Israel and being involved in missile and drone attacks on them. However, the Gulf countries have completely rejected these allegations of Iran and called them baseless. However, amid this political tussle and economic recession, it is no longer as easy for Western companies to operate in Saudi Arabia as before.