Arab nations extend deadline in bid to resolve diplomatic crisis with Qatar

Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah. Qatar on June 5, restricting access to their airspace and ports and sealing Qatar’s only land border, which it shares with Saudi Arabia.

Qatar’s foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, has travelled to Kuwait City, carrying a handwritten note from his nation’s ruler for 88-year-old Kuwaiti Sheikh Sabah Al Sabah, according to staterun news agency KUNA.

There is no immediate word on what the letter said, though Sheikh Sabah is trying to mediate.

The four Arab nations had issued Qatar with 13 demands to end the standoff on June 22 and gave the natural gas-rich country 10 days to comply.

The joint statement by the four Arab nations said they expected Qatar to respond to their demands later. The new deadline will expire late today or early tomorrow.

Foreign ministers of the four Arab nations will meet tomorrow in Cairo to discuss their next moves. The statement said: “The response of the four states will then be sent following the study of the Qatari government’s response and assessment of its response to the demands.”

US president Donald Trump, meanwhile, spoke with Qatar’s emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, as well as King Salman of Saudi Arabia and Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of the Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi.

The White House said Mr Trump had urged unity and reiterated the importance of stopping terrorist financing and discrediting extremist ideology.

A separate statement carried on the official Qatar News Agency said the emir’s discussion with Mr Trump touched on the need to fight terrorism and extremism in all its forms and sources, and was a chance for the countries to review their bilateral strategic relations.

Qatar, like the countries lined up against it, is a US ally.

It hosts the some 10,000 American troops at the sprawling al-Udeid Air Base, a key staging ground for the campaign against Islamic State and the war in Afghanistan.