The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word BAHRAINI
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
B
A
H
R
A
I
N
I
More clues leading to the result BAHRAINI
- Middle-Easterner said to be in a pub, wet
- Arab airline personnel at home visiting capital
- Arab statesman‘s cry of disgust, with damp conditions reported
- Gulf resident: I hate it to be wet on island
- Inhabitant of an emirate gets reluctant Rani into short dirty habit
- Damn bad weather heading for Iraq from a Gulf state
- Damn shower beginning to irritate Gulf national
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Gulf national" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case gulf national = bahraini.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.