Trump offers Tillerson to mediate Qatar solution
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has offered Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to mediate the standoff between Qatar and the Saudi-led coalition that has severed ties with the tiny country over support for extremist groups.
Mr. Tillerson, who dealt with Qatari leaders for years as chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corp., is skilled at bringing people together and is ready to help if needed, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Thursday. She added that Mr. Trump would rather all sides work out the dispute among themselves.
The announcement came after Mr. Trump met with Mr. Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at the White House earlier Thursday to discuss the crisis. Any role Mr. Tillerson might play would be complicated by conflicting messages from the administration, including Mr. Trump’s tweets on Tuesday, in which he appeared to back Saudi Arabia over Qatar, which he said was funding extremists. Mr. Tillerson and other officials had refrained from taking sides after the crisis began.
A group of Gulf nations led by Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties as well as land, sea and air travel with Qatar on Monday, accusing the country of supporting Sunni extremist groups and Iranian-backed Shiite militants to destabilize the region. On Thursday, the Central African nation of Chad also recalled its ambassador from Qatar.
Also on Thursday, as tensions flare between Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran and their allies, reports of hacking
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are emerging across the Gulf, including of the Qatarbased satellite news network Al-Jazeera.
Worried residents have responded to the crisis by emptying grocery stores in the capital of Doha, and Saudi Arabia has blocked trucks carrying food from entering the country across its only land border.
The crisis has thrust the U.S. into a delicate position because of its alliances with all sides, and because Qatar — one of the few foreign backers of Hamas — hosts the nerve center for U.S. air operation in the Middle East, including the fight against the Islamic State group.
The outlines of any U.S.led mediation are unclear so far, and Ms. Nauert said she didn’t have details to announce. A Qatari diplomat told The Associated Press on Thursday that his country’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, won’t travel abroad while the blockade remains in place. Kuwait is also working on a separate mediation effort.
Mr. Tillerson has extensive experience in Qatar and the rest of the Gulf region. During a trip to New Zealand this week, Mr. Tillerson was asked how his past as an oilman might help resolve the crisis. Saying he’s dealt with Qatar’s leaders for 15 years, Mr. Tillerson replied, “We know each other quite well.”
Pro-Syrian drone
A U.S. aircraft shot down a pro-Syrian government drone after it fired upon a group of U.S.-led coalition forces in southeastern Syria Thursday, the Pentagon said. The incident — which left no coalition forces injured — marks a significant escalation around the Tanf border crossing.
‘Repugnant’ statement
Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday called the White House statement about the double attack on Tehran by militants recruited by IS that killed 17 people “repugnant” after it linked the assault to what it called Iran’s support for terror.
Mideast peace efforts
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas will temporarily shelve his longstanding demand for Israel to freeze West Bank settlement construction in order to revive peace talks under the Trump administration, a top adviser said.