Hard-line Trump trips Tilly on Qatar

President Trump on Friday demanded that Qatar stop funding terrorism, striking a hard line against the tiny emirate just hours after his State Department had urged other Gulf nations to end their blockade of the besieged country.

“The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has been a funder of terrorism at a very high level. The time has come to call on Qatar to end its funding,” Trump said at the White House.

“Hopefully it will be the beginning of the end of funding terrorism. It will, therefore, be the begin- ning of the end to terrorism. No more funding.”

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had earlier urged Arab states to ease their blockade of Qatar after tensions heightened when Turkey offered to send military forces to aid its ally.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain severed ties with oil-rich Qatar on Monday over longstanding allegations that the country was courting Iran and fomenting instability in the region.

The Gulf nations tightened their squeeze on Friday by putting dozens of people with links to the tiny nation on terrorism blacklists.

Taking what appeared to be a different position to Trump’s, Tillerson made clear he expected all parties to end the crisis, saying the blockade is hurting US efforts to fight ISIS.

Qatar is home to a vital US military outpost, the Al Udeid Air Base, and shortly after Tillerson’s remarks, the Pentagon said that while the blockade was not affecting current operations against ISIS, it was “hindering” the ability to plan for the long term.