Trump backs Saudis, US military praises Qatar CLOUDS OF UNCERTAINTY
President Donald Trump threw his weight behind the Saudi-led diplomatic isolation of Qatar, calling it just punishment for the country’s financial support for Islamic extremists and taking sides in a dispute among key US allies in the Persian Gulf.
The Pentagon on Tuesday renewed praise of Qatar for hosting US forces and its "enduring commitment to regional security," sticking to a message of reassurance even as President Donald Trump, via Twitter, applauded a decision by Arab powers to cut ties to the Gulf ally.
Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis declined to answer a question about whether Qatar supported terrorism, the accusation made by Arab states, saying: "I’m not the right person to ask that. I consider them a host to our very important base at al Udeid."
“During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology,” Trump said on Twitter on Tuesday. “Leaders pointed to Qatar — look!”
He followed with two additional tweets, saying the action was proof that his meeting with Persian Gulf Arab leaders in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia earlier this month was “already paying off.”
“Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!” he said.
The US wasn’t warned by its Arab allies about an impending move to isolate Qatar during Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia late last month, according to two administration officials. But Trump was aware at the time of his meeting in Saudi Arabia of longstanding tensions among the Gulf nations fuelled by Qatar’s financial support for extremist groups and coziness with Iran, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. A campaign by leading Arab powers to isolate Qatar is disrupting trade in commodities from crude oil to metals and food, and deepening fears of a possible jolt to the global gas market, where the tiny Gulf state is a major player.
Just a day after Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies severed transport links with Qatar over a diplomatic row, bans on Doha's fleet using regional ports and anchorages threatened to halt some of its exports and disrupt those of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Traders worried that Riyadh's allies would refuse to accept LNG shipments from Oil prices edged upward Tuesday, finding technical support after sliding below $47 a barrel on pressure from a diplomatic rift in the Middle East and sustained high crude inventories in the United States.
US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 52 cents at $47.92 by 1:15 pm EST | Traders are worried that Riyadh's allies would refuse to
accept LNG shipments from the Gulf state | Qatar is now unable to load crude oil onto supertankers
together with other Gulf-based grades | Food imports are affected as Saudi Arabia closed its land
border with Qatar the Gulf state, and that Egypt might even bar tankers carrying Qatari cargoes from using the Suez Canal as they head to Europe and beyond - although Cairo is bound by an international agreement to let them use the waterway.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain severed relations with Qatar and closed their airspace to commercial flights on Monday, in the worst split between powerful Arab states in decades.
Qatar is now unable to load crude oil onto supertankers together with other Gulf-based grades, and price agency S&P Global Platts said it would not automatically include the country in its Middle East price benchmark.
The agency noted that tankers usually combine