US State Department questions Gulf motives on Qatar boycott

The State Department issued an unusual public warning to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday over a diplomatic rift with fellow USA ally Qatar, and suggested that the Saudis may have provoked a crisis and drawn in the United States on false pretenses.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are two of America's closest allies. Qatar's news agency Al Jazeera has been widely criticized of supporting the Brotherhood during the Arab Spring.

She noted that Mr. Trump had offered Mr. Tillerson as an intermediary, but she said that Mr. Tillerson's interactions with leaders from the region had led him to conclude that his mediation role was not necessary and "that they'll be able to work this out on their own".

Dorsey also pointed out that what is happening between Qatar and its Arab neighbors is not a siege, and therefore Qatar has all kinds of options as the food deliveries from Turkey and Iran will show. Qatar has also used its wealth, as the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, to support groups such as Hamas.

"Qatar, unfortunately, has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level", Trump said on June 9, adding that Saudi Arabia and others "came together and spoke to me about confronting Qatar over its behavior". If necessary, the Qatari government will step in to cover those funds if they are withdrawn, and other banks in the QFC are still providing short-term USA dollar deposits to Qatar's banking sector, he told reporters. "The more time goes by, the more doubt is raised about the actions taken by Saudi Arabia and the (United Arab Emirates)".

All three nations are part of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council, a loose diplomatic confederation of mostly wealthy Persian Gulf states. While Bahrain largely follows Saudi Arabia's foreign policy, Qatar has diverged from other members of the GCC. "But those countries have people on the board".

Qatar hosts a vital USA military base, Al Udeid, to which more than 11,000 US and coalition forces are deployed or assigned and from which more than 100 aircraft operate. But it so far has avoided economic collapse by quickly finding alternative routes, and it said its vast financial reserves would meet any challenges.

He said Qatar was not the only country affected by the crisis.

Thousands of Qataris have been unable to board flights to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and cut off from relatives in those countries.

"We have had a lot of cancellations, especially to the four countries that did this illegal blockade, but we have found new markets and this is our growth strategy", he said, adding passengers were returning to the carrier after initially being deterred when the boycott started.

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said earlier on Monday said that those seeking to isolate Qatar had no intention of backing down unless their demands were met.