Tillerson returns to Saudi Arabia as Qatar row simmers
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Saudi Arabia Saturday, his second visit to the region in recent months as he seeks a breakthrough in a diplomatic crisis gripping the Persian Gulf.
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut ties with Qatar in June, alleging it was funding extremists and is too close to Iran. Doha denies the charge.
Tillerson made an unsuccessful attempt to resolve the dispute during a trip to the region in July, AFP reported.
US President Donald Trump, after initially appearing to support the effort to isolate Qatar, has called for mediation and recently predicted a rapid end to the crisis.
But before his arrival at Riyadh’s King Salman air base, Tillerson indicated there had been little progress.
He blamed the four countries lined up against the emirate for a lack of progress and casting doubts on US efforts to mediate the crisis.
“I do not have a lot of expectations for it being resolved anytime soon,” Tillerson said in an interview with financial news agency Bloomberg. He declined to say which country bears the most responsibility for the lack of progress.
“There seems to be a real unwillingness on the part of some of the parties to want to engage,” Tillerson said.
“It’s up to the leadership of the quartet when they want to engage with Qatar because Qatar has been very clear – they’re ready to engage.”
The four countries cut diplomatic and trade links with Qatar on June 5, suspending air and shipping routes with the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, which is home to the region’s biggest US military base.
They have presented a list of conditions for the lifting of sanctions. Aside from the Persian Gulf dispute, Iran, the conflict in Yemen and counter-terrorism also are on the agenda in the Persian Gulf, the State Department said.
While in Riyadh, Tillerson will also take part in the first meeting of a Saudi-iraqi coordination council, a sign of warming relations between the kingdom and Baghdad.
His trip will also take him to India and Pakistan.