US President Donald Trump took sides in a deep rift in the Arab world on Tuesday, praising Middle East countries' actions against American ally Qatar over Islamist militants even though the tiny Gulf state hosts the largest US air base in the region. Trump wrote on Twitter that a recent trip he made to the Middle East was "already paying off" and cast an anti-Islamist speech he made in Saudi Arabia as the inspiration for a decision by Arab powers to sever ties with Qatar in protest at what they say is the Gulf nation's support for terrorism.
Qatar vehemently denies the accusations against it. "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!" Trump wrote on Twitter. US officials were blindsided by Saudi Arabia's decision to sever diplomatic ties with Qatar in a co-ordinated move with Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), current and former officials in Washington told Reuters.
Even as Trump applauded the Arab countries' decision, the Pentagon on Tuesday renewed praise of Qatar for hosting US forces and its "enduring commitment to regional security." Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis declined to answer a question about whether Qatar supported terrorism, saying: "I'm not the right person to ask that. I consider them a host to our very important base at al Udeid."
Some 8,000 US military personnel are stationed at al Udeid in Qatar, the largest US air base in the Middle East and a staging ground for U.S.-led strikes on the Islamic State militant group that has seized parts of Syria and Iraq. Trump's tweet appeared at odds with comments from US officials who had said on Monday that the United States would quietly try to calm the waters between Saudi Arabia and Qatar because Qatar is too important to U.S. military and diplomatic interests to be isolated.
Qatar has for years parlayed its enormous gas wealth and media strength into broad influence in the region. But Gulf Arab neighbours and Egypt have long been irked by its maverick stances and support for the Muslim Brotherhood, which they regard as a political enemy. Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Tuesday that Qatar needed to take several steps, including ending its support of Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, to restore ties with other key Arab states, which also cut transport links.
"We've decided to take steps to make clear that enough is enough," Adel Al-Jubeir told journalists in Paris. "Nobody wants to hurt Qatar. Qatar has to choose whether it must move in one direction or another direction".
The campaign to isolate Qatar disrupted trade in commodities from crude oil to metals and food, and deepened fears of a possible shock to the global gas market, where the tiny state is a major player. Qataris crowded into supermarkets to stock up on goods, fearing shortages. Maersk, the world's biggest container shipping line, said it was unable to transport goods in or out of Qatar because it could not take them through the UAE port of Jebel Ali.
MEDIATION AND CONSEQUENCES Gulf Arab officials said Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber al-Sabah would meet Saudi Arabia's King Salman hoping to heal the rift, which has affected global oil prices, hit travel plans and sown confusion among businesses.
A number of banks in the region began stepping back from business dealings with Qatar. Saudi Arabia's central bank advised banks in the kingdom not to trade with Qatari banks in Qatari riyals, sources said. Oil prices fell on concern that the rift would undermine efforts by Opec to tighten output. Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV Qatar would not retaliate, hoping Kuwait would help resolve the dispute. We are willing to sit and talk," he told CNN later, and said his country was "protecting the world from potential terrorists".
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