AFP, Washington :
US President Donald Trump urged Gulf unity Tuesday in remarks released just hours after he appeared to back Saudi Arabia and its regional allies’ decision to sever ties with Qatar.
In an abrupt and sweeping move, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain announced Monday they were cutting diplomatic relations and closing air, sea and land links with Qatar.
Triggering the Arab world’s biggest crisis in years, they accused the tiny Gulf state of harboring extremist groups and suggested Qatar supported the agenda of Riyadh’s arch-rival, Iran.
Trump waded into the row in a series of early morning tweets that signaled support for the effort to isolate Qatar, despite the country being home to the largest American airbase in the Middle East.
“So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off,” he tweeted in reference to his trip to Riyadh last month.
“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!”
The broadside came as Kuwait’s ruler flew to Saudi Arabia to try to resolve the split.
A CNN report then cited Qatar’s foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani as saying FBI experts had concluded that Russian hackers had a hand in the furor.
The broadcaster said US intelligence officials believe the hackers planted a false story on Qatar’s state news agency that may have prompted the Saudi Arabia-led sanctions on Qatar.
Speaking earlier to the BBC, Thani responded to Trump’s tweets, denying any funding “of terrorism” and saying there was no “evidence that the Qatar government is supporting radical Islamists.”
Energy-rich Qatar has long had strained ties with its neighbors, but the move by Saudi Arabia and its supporters raised fears of more volatility in the region.
Trump spoke by telephone with Saudi Arabia’s ruler King Salman later Tuesday in an exchange of notably different tone from the US president’s earlier remarks on Twitter.
“The president underscored that a united Gulf Cooperation Council is critical to defeating terrorism and promoting regional stability,” the White House said in a statement regarding the call.
“The two leaders discussed the critical goals of preventing the financing of terrorist organizations and eliminating the promotion of extremism by any nation in the region.”
The Gulf Cooperation Council is a regional bloc comprising Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE and Oman.
Support for Qatar came from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who criticized the sanctions and vowed to maintain and develop ties with Doha.
“Efforts to isolate Qatar… will not solve any problem,” he said, praising Doha’s “cool-headedness” and “constructive approach.”
But the Saudi-led action was already having tangible effects, with dozens of flights canceled, Qatari planes barred from regional airspace, and panic buying in Doha amid fears of food shortages.
As well as cutting diplomatic relations and ordering Qatari citizens to leave their countries within 14 days, the Gulf states and Egypt banned all flights to and from Qatar.
UAE carriers Emirates, Etihad, flydubai and Air Arabia, as well as Saudi Airlines had all announced the suspension of flights to and from Qatar as of Tuesday morning.
Another Arab nation, Jordan, said after studying the causes of the crisis with Qatar it was downgrading its diplomatic representation and withdrawing licenses for the Amman bureau of the Doha-based TV news channel Al-Jazeera.
The west African state of Mauritania backed Riyadh and cut ties with Qatar, saying Doha’s policies had “supported terrorist organizations… and promoted chaos in many Arab countries”.
US President Donald Trump urged Gulf unity Tuesday in remarks released just hours after he appeared to back Saudi Arabia and its regional allies’ decision to sever ties with Qatar.
In an abrupt and sweeping move, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain announced Monday they were cutting diplomatic relations and closing air, sea and land links with Qatar.
Triggering the Arab world’s biggest crisis in years, they accused the tiny Gulf state of harboring extremist groups and suggested Qatar supported the agenda of Riyadh’s arch-rival, Iran.
Trump waded into the row in a series of early morning tweets that signaled support for the effort to isolate Qatar, despite the country being home to the largest American airbase in the Middle East.
“So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off,” he tweeted in reference to his trip to Riyadh last month.
“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!”
The broadside came as Kuwait’s ruler flew to Saudi Arabia to try to resolve the split.
A CNN report then cited Qatar’s foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani as saying FBI experts had concluded that Russian hackers had a hand in the furor.
The broadcaster said US intelligence officials believe the hackers planted a false story on Qatar’s state news agency that may have prompted the Saudi Arabia-led sanctions on Qatar.
Speaking earlier to the BBC, Thani responded to Trump’s tweets, denying any funding “of terrorism” and saying there was no “evidence that the Qatar government is supporting radical Islamists.”
Energy-rich Qatar has long had strained ties with its neighbors, but the move by Saudi Arabia and its supporters raised fears of more volatility in the region.
Trump spoke by telephone with Saudi Arabia’s ruler King Salman later Tuesday in an exchange of notably different tone from the US president’s earlier remarks on Twitter.
“The president underscored that a united Gulf Cooperation Council is critical to defeating terrorism and promoting regional stability,” the White House said in a statement regarding the call.
“The two leaders discussed the critical goals of preventing the financing of terrorist organizations and eliminating the promotion of extremism by any nation in the region.”
The Gulf Cooperation Council is a regional bloc comprising Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE and Oman.
Support for Qatar came from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who criticized the sanctions and vowed to maintain and develop ties with Doha.
“Efforts to isolate Qatar… will not solve any problem,” he said, praising Doha’s “cool-headedness” and “constructive approach.”
But the Saudi-led action was already having tangible effects, with dozens of flights canceled, Qatari planes barred from regional airspace, and panic buying in Doha amid fears of food shortages.
As well as cutting diplomatic relations and ordering Qatari citizens to leave their countries within 14 days, the Gulf states and Egypt banned all flights to and from Qatar.
UAE carriers Emirates, Etihad, flydubai and Air Arabia, as well as Saudi Airlines had all announced the suspension of flights to and from Qatar as of Tuesday morning.
Another Arab nation, Jordan, said after studying the causes of the crisis with Qatar it was downgrading its diplomatic representation and withdrawing licenses for the Amman bureau of the Doha-based TV news channel Al-Jazeera.
The west African state of Mauritania backed Riyadh and cut ties with Qatar, saying Doha’s policies had “supported terrorist organizations… and promoted chaos in many Arab countries”.
