Trump praises Amir mediation

WASHINGTON, Sept 9, (Agencies): President Donald Trump on Thursday hailed efforts by the leader of Kuwait, a staunch American ally, to mediate a festering diplomatic crisis involving Qatar and its Arab neighbors that could have implications for the US military presence in the region.

However, the quartet of Arab nations now boycotting Doha issued a strongly worded statement early Friday morning dismissing some of Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah’s comments, signaling the diplomatic crisis roiling the Gulf is far from over.

At a White House news conference with Sheikh Sabah, Trump said he appreciated the Amir’s thus-far unsuccessful bid to end the dispute between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt. He applauded Kuwait’s “critical contributions to regional stability” but also repeated an offer to mediate himself, particularly between Qatar and Saudi Arabia and the UAE. He suggested a deal would be “worked out very quickly” if he became personally involved.

Trump said all the countries involved — members of the Gulf Cooperation Council — are “essential partners” with the United States in efforts to crack down on extremism, including the fight against Islamic State group. “We will be most successful with a united GCC,” he said. “We will send a strong message to both terrorist organizations and regional aggressors that they cannot win.”

His comments came after he sent conflicting signals about where he stands on the dispute. Trump initially appeared to side with Saudi Arabia, but then instructed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to support the Kuwaiti mediation effort. Still, the dispute has dragged on for more than three months, even after Tillerson shuttled between the parties in July and dispatched two other US envoys to bolster the 88-year-old Kuwaiti Amir’s initiative.

The crisis erupted June 5 when Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates all cut ties to Doha over allegations Qatar funds extremists and has ties that are too warm with Iran. Qatar, which hosts a US military base critical to the effort to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, has long denied funding extremists. It recently restored full diplomatic ties to Iran, with which it shares a massive offshore natural gas field that makes its citizens among the world’s wealthiest.

In his comments, Trump offered a pointed reminder that terrorism financing is at the heart of the crisis. At one point he said the dispute “began because of that fact that there has been massive funding of terrorism by certain countries.” He did not identify those countries, but in June he had made reference to Saudi and other Arab complaints about Qatar.

For his part, Sheikh Sabah said he remained hopeful that a resolution to the crisis could be reached. He noted that Qatar had been presented with a list of 13 demands by the other countries and was willing to discuss them. Although Qatar has rejected some of them out of hand, Sheikh Sabah said he believed negotiations were possible.

“I am optimistic that the solution will come in the very near future,” he said. “The hope has not ended yet.”

Saudi Arabia on Saturday suspended any dialogue with Qatar, accusing it of distorting facts soon after a phone call between the rulers of both countries offered hope of a breakthrough in the three-month-old Gulf crisis.

Qatar’s Amir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, spoke to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to express interest in talks, state media from both sides said, in the first public engagement between the leaders after the US president offered to mediate in the crisis.

The crown prince “welcomed this desire,” the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) initially reported, adding “details will be announced after Saudi Arabia reaches an agreement with UAE and Bahrain and Egypt”.

But the prospect of a thaw quickly died down after SPA subsequently accused Qatar’s state media of wrongly implying that Saudi Arabia had initiated the outreach.

“The contact was at the request of Qatar and its request for dialogue,” SPA said, citing a Saudi foreign ministry official.

“Qatar is not serious in dialogue and continues its previous policies. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia declares that any dialogue with Qatar shall be suspended until a clear statement explaining its position is made in public.”