US President Donald Trump has offered to mediate the ongoing Middle Eastern crisis over Qatar.
“In a phone call Wednesday with Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Trump said he wanted to help Qatar and its Arab neighbors resolve the row that has upended any sense of Gulf unity, suggesting a possible White House summit among leaders. Though Trump again said countries must eliminate funding streams for terror groups, the White House said he focused on the need for the region’s various U.S. allies to stick together.
Blockaded by its neighbors by land and sea, Qatar is eager for Trump’s help. Qatar’s U.S. ambassador, Meshal bin Hamad Al Thani, told The Associated Press his country is counting on Washington to persuade Saudi Arabia and others to back down.
“We have great confidence in the president’s ability to calm this crisis and to resolve it,” Al Thani said in an interview.
Trump’s bid to fashion himself as a neutral arbiter among Arab governments departed from his stance only a day earlier, when he left little doubt about where he felt the fault rested,” the AP article reads.
Earlier this week, Trump supported the Saudi-led block actions against Qatar in a Twitter storm. Thus, Washington fueled the crisis with a clear aim to gain revenue mediating it later.
Meanhile, it looks that Qatar is not very sutisfied with the US mediation in the crisis. Doha clearly understands that the situation is very shaky.
Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani will Visit Moscow on Saturday where he will hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported citing a source in the foreign ministry.
The Qatari foreign minister’s visit to Moscow may indicate that the country is going to follow a Turkey-style approach in its actions in the Middle East and will boost ties with the Russia-oriented block.
