Donald Trump takes credit for Qatar split with Arab neighbours

Donald Trump claims he inspired Arab states’ rift with Qatar, tweets “perhaps this is beginning of the end of terrorism.”

Donald Trump has taken credit for the rift between Qatar and its Arab neighbours. picture: AFP.

President Donald Trump has sided with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states in their dispute with Qatar over allegations the small emirate supports extremists, stepping into a dispute among important US military allies.

Mr. Trump said in Twitter messages Tuesday that Gulf Arab leaders cited Qatar as a source of funding for extremism during his trip to the region last month, before a diplomatic rupture this week that holds implications for regional co-operation.

• Explainer: What diplomatic rift means for Qatar Airways

He tweeted: “During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar — look!”

During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar - look!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017

Mr. Trump added: “So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off. 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!”

So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off. They said they would take a hard line on funding...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017

...extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017

Mr. Trump’s decision to take sides on a tense diplomatic spat between Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, several other Gulf Arab countries and Qatar stands to further inflame tensions in the region by singling out Qatar even though other top administration officials said earlier that diplomacy would smooth over the disagreement.

Mr. Trump’s comments come amid longstanding US concerns about Qatar’s ties to Islamist militant groups, despite the nation’s role as a military ally in the region.

Backers of a US alliance with Qatar say the emirate is crucial to the fight against Islamic State, and Qatar’s Sunni Muslim monarchy has used its vast oil and gas resources to build a reputation as the region’s top mediator in conflicts ranging from Sudan to Lebanon.

But Qatar also has given financial or diplomatic support to Mideast rebel groups, including some that have ties to al Qa’ida. The support includes providing sanctuary to leaders of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, two groups the US labels terrorist organisations. And it has riled some of its Sunni allies by adopting a more neutral stance toward Shiite-majority Iran.

US officials have also raised concerns about the funding of extremist groups and ideologies by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.

A prolonged rift in the region could put the US in a difficult position, as the command centre overseeing the US-led air war against Islamic State is at a US military base in Qatar. The base is America’s largest military facility in the Middle East.

Mr. Trump’s tweets reflect conversations he had with Saudi officials and others about Qatar two weeks ago, during a presidential visit to Saudi Arabia, where Mr. Trump tried to rally Arab allies around fighting terrorism and countering Iran’s influence in the Middle East.

On Monday, the US ambassador to Qatar, Dana Shell Smith, tweeted support for the emirate in its effort to confront terrorist financing and its role in the coalition against Islamic State.

And this https://t.co/226bFZw83B

— Dana Shell Smith (@AmbDana) June 5, 2017

Qatar’s foreign minister on Tuesday sought to mend ties by calling on the other five member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council — Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain — to resolve the dispute “at a dialogue table” and vowing Qatar wouldn’t escalate the dispute by introducing its own sanctions.

The Qatari foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, also said the country’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, had postponed an address to the nation on this week’s developments, in an attempt to give his Kuwaiti counterpart time to resolve the crisis.

Sheikh Sabah visited Saudi Arabia on Tuesday in a bid to mediate, according to the country’s official news agency. Saudi officials at the ministry of foreign affairs and the royal court weren’t available to comment.

Authorities of the emirate also tried to reassure residents on Tuesday that its political isolation wouldn’t lead to food shortages and other problems.

By Tuesday afternoon, crowds at a large supermarket in central Doha had thinned, and supplies of water, fish and beef hadn’t run out as during the previous day.

“People were afraid that there would not be enough supply of food because of the political issues. Now it’s fine,” said a supermarket employee, adding: “But I would say it’s better to buy early.”

In isolating the emirate, the Gulf states closed off air, sea and land routes to Qatar, causing a rush on supermarkets in the Qatari capital, Doha, and disrupting airline travel between the nations. On Tuesday, Dubai’s DP World, one of the largest ports operators in the world, said it was banning all vessels carrying Qatar’s flag from calling at its home terminals in the U.A.E.

Qatar called the decision to break ties and close borders unjustified and said the moves were based on false allegations.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, speaking in New Zealand Tuesday before Mr. Trump issued his Tuesday messages, said the diplomatic row arose in part from “a certain level of frustration” over a number of issues.

“The president’s message in Riyadh, remember, was to motivate all of the Arab and Muslim nations worldwide … that all nations needed to take action against extremism and take action to also terminate the support, financial support, in any ways that they can,” Mr. Tillerson said.

Mr. Tillerson, taking a more reserved stance than did Mr. Trump, didn’t single out Qatar’s alleged support for extremism directly and said all Gulf Cooperation Council nations have “work to do” to better cease support to terrorism and extremism.

Some analysts and former officials have suggested that the move by Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Bahrain and others to cut diplomatic ties Monday arose in part because those countries were emboldened by Mr. Trump’s visit to the region two weeks ago.

Tensions among the Arab countries rose late last month when Qatar’s official news agency posted comments, purportedly by its emir, that praised Iran, which led Saudi Arabia and others in the region to block websites of Qatari news outlets. Qatar said the news agency had been hacked and denied the emir had made the comments.

Before last month’s summit in Saudi Arabia, Saudi and Emirati officials discussed their concerns about Qatar with the Trump administration, according to senior Arab officials.

The Wall St Journal