Qatar visit to the US aims to break Gulf gridlock
Qatar is using a high-level visit to Washington to get the Donald Trump administration’s support to broker a deal to end the monthslong Saudi-led embargo.
Qatar hopes a high-level visit to the US capital can help break the Saudi-led embargo that has hobbled the tiny emirate for the past seven months.
A contingent of Cabinet officials, including the foreign, defense and finance ministers, are fanning out throughout Washington this week in a series of events headlined by a bilateral dialogue on Tuesday.
Qatari officials are hoping to use the visit to set up talks to end the stalemate. Since June, Saudi Arabia and three other Arab states have imposed an economic embargo on Qatar until it meets demands to shut down the Al Jazeera news channel, sever diplomatic ties to Iran and cease alleged support for Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah and the Islamic State (IS).
“The only person who can solve the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] issue is President Trump,” Qatari Minister of State for Defense Khalid bin Mohammad al-Attiyah said at a Heritage Foundation forum today. “He can solve it in a phone call.”
