Gulf Arab states piled pressure on Qatar on Thursday as U.S. President Donald Trump and Kuwait's emir worked to end a row and resolve what Qataris say amounts to a blockade of their country, an investment powerhouse and supplier of gas to world markets. The White House says that Trump told the emir that all countries in the region need to cooperate to prevent terrorist financing and stop the spread of extremist ideology.
In an effort to show the president and the top USA diplomat are literally on the same page despite the different tone they took throughout the week, the White House gave reporters a sheet juxtaposing quotes from Trump on the Qatar situation with similar comments from Tillerson.
"We will not abandon our Qatari brothers", Erdogan said. He said that the cutoff is hindering the fight against Islamic State and provoking food shortages.
On Monday, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt gave Qataris 14 days to leave, breaking diplomatic relations with Doha over its alleged support for extremism. Qatar vehemently denies such support.
Sheikh Mohammed said Qatar had not yet been presented with a list of demands by countries that cut off diplomatic and transport links with it, but insisted the matter be solved peacefully.
The foreign minister of Oman met Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwait's ruler, for talks.
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Speaking in Berlin, Saudi foreign minister Adel Al-Jubeir also said efforts would be made to resolve the conflict within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
The conflicting signals suggested Tillerson was playing "good cop" to Trump's tougher-talking "bad cop".
It wasn't immediately clear how Qatar, which hosts some 10,000 USA troops, might respond to Trump's critique.
"We don't see that he's pointing fingers at Qatar", Al Thani said. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said that U.A.E. notified the USA about the plan shortly before it went into effect.
Countries across the globe are increasingly faced with the same conundrum: How much credence to give to the president's Twitter musings when they deviate sharply from US policy?
Emirati officials said they perceived Trump's tweets as a sign Qatar shouldn't count on America taking its side despite US having some 10,000 troops based in the country's al-Udeid Air Base. And a State Department official said an approved but pending sale of F-15 fighter planes to Qatar hasn't been affected. A day earlier, Trump discussed the crisis with King Salman of Saudi Arabia, which is leading the anti-Qatar campaign. He said other countries, which he didn't name, must also continue to eliminate support for violent organizations. The potential for a coup makes it unlikely the Qatari emir would travel so far from home, especially as its adversaries hint that regime change would be welcome. The Qatari Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
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