At the State Department on June 9, Tillerson called on Egypt Saudi Arabia, and the other Persian Gulf states to ease their blockade on Qatar, saying the move had hindered the us -led air campaign against Islamic State militants.
The publication of the sanctions list comes amid increasing efforts by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain to diplomatically and physically isolate the tiny but wealthy Gulf state of Qatar, which has been subjected to a series of co-ordinated measures in the past five days. "They said they would take a hard line on funding extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar.
Qatar hosts one of the largest USA military bases in the region", CNN reported.
Ali bin Smaikh al-Marri, chairman of Qatar's national human rights committee, said that the Saudi-led move went far beyond a simple diplomatic dispute and would break up families and disrupt young people's education.
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and other Arab nations cut off relations with Qatar after accusing it of supporting terrorism.
"Qatar has made efforts to prosecute significant terrorist financiers", the State Department said.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani repeatedly denied his country funded extremists and rejected the idea of shutting down its Al-Jazeera satellite news network.
Iran has offered to provide food to Qatar after Saudi Arabia closed the country's only land border and its own airspace for Qatari aircraft.
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Tillerson then went to the White House, where Trump seemed to contradict him, putting the focus squarely back on Qatar.
In addition to cutting ties with Qatar over its alleged support of terrorism, the four Arab nations designated dozens of people with alleged links to Qatar as terrorists, intensifying a row that threatens the region's stability.
Qatar hosts 8,000 USA military personnel at Al Udeid Air Base, the largest U.S. air base in the Middle East and a launchpad for US-led strikes on the Islamic State militant group.
And the emir of Kuwait has met with two top United Arab Emirates officials to attempt to mediate the situation, the wire service says.
"We don't see a military solution as an option", he said, adding that Qatar would not shut down its al-Jazeera news network.
"There are humanitarian consequences to this blockade", Mr Tillerson said in Washington.
Tillerson said that the GCC "must emerge united and stronger" to show its resolve. "Qatar remains critical for coalition air operations in the fight against ISIS and around the region".
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