Riyadh: US President Donald Trump threw his weight behind efforts to isolate Qatar yesterday.
He backed Saudi Arabia and its allies after they cut ties with Doha over its support to extremism.
Trump suggested Qatar was funding extremism as he tacitly backed its diplomatic blockade.
“So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off,” Trump tweeted, in reference to his trip to Riyadh last month.
“They said they would take a hard line on funding... extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!”
Trump’s comments came as the Amir of Kuwait, Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah, held talks with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Adbulaziz Al Saud during a visit to Saudi Arabia in a bid to resolve the worst diplomatic crisis to hit the Arab world in years. Kuwaiti state news agency Kuna said the Amir left Saudi Arabia later at night, but gave no details on the talks.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir said Qatar needed to take several steps, including ending its support of Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, to restore ties.
“We’ve decided to take steps to make clear that enough is enough,” he said in Paris. He said the “fairly large cost” on Qatar’s economy would convince it to change its policies.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told the Amir of Qatar, Shaikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, in a phone call that crisis situations should be solved by political and diplomatic means, “in dialogue”, the Kremlin said.
Jordan last night said it will downgrade its diplomatic representation with Qatar, after examining the “cause of the crisis”. It also revoked the licence of Doha-based TV channel Al Jazeera, a spokesman said in Amman. The rift comes less than a month after Trump’s Saudi visit.