A way out of the Qatari mess

The dangerous dispute between Qatar and other Arab gulf states, chiefly Saudi Arabia, has gone on for three weeks, diverting attention from fighting the Islamic State and other serious challenges.

It shows little sign of resolution. The Saudis and the United Arab Emirates provoked the row by breaking diplomatic relations with Qatar and imposing an effective embargo, ostensibly because of Qatar’s coddling of terrorists and other issues.

US senator Bob Corker now suggests a way to end the impasse and force some sort of reconciliation: halt arms sales throughout the region.

As chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, Corker, a Tennessee Republican, must give preliminary approval to major arms sales, along with the panel’s senior Democrat, Ben Cardin, and the Democratic and Republican leaders of the house foreign affairs committee.

In a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Corker said recent disputes among the gulf states “only serve to hurt efforts to fight Islamic State and counter Iran”. Future arms sales approvals would thus be held up until he received “a better understanding of the path to resolve the current dispute and reunify” the regional group, the Gulf Co-operation Council.

This would give Tillerson a new tool for resolving the crisis, though the effect may not be immediate. The Trump administration is already moving forward with a plan to send $510m in precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia for use in the Yemeni civil war against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and with a $12bn deal for Qatar to buy F-15 jets.

But the Saudis and the emirates might eventually come looking for more weapons to prosecute that war, at which point the US should say no. The war is a humanitarian catastrophe that urgently needs a political settlement. New York, June 28.