Reading News for You: Six Arab Nations cut ties with Doha government, How Donald Trump helped cause the Qatar diplomatic crisis.
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How Donald Trump helped cause the Qatar diplomatic crisis
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How Donald Trump helped cause the Qatar diplomatic crisis
International Business Times Isabelle
Gerretsen•International Business Times June 5, 2017
US President Donald Trump's recent endorsement of Saudi
Arabia's bid to challenge Iranian influence in the Middle East sparked the
re-emergence of a diplomatic row between Qatar and its neighbours, a Gulf
security expert has revealed.
Six Arab nations severed relations with the Qatari
government on Monday (5 June) after accusing Doha of fuelling extremism and
terrorism in the region and its perceived tolerance of Saudi Arabia's
arch-rival, Iran.
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Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
and the Western-recognised governments of Libya and Yemen cut ties with Doha,
claiming its government funds regional terrorist networks.
Saudi state news agency SPA said Riyadh had closed its
borders and suspended all contact with Doha via land, sea and air. Qatari
nationals have been given 14 days to leave Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
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Saudi officials told SPA that the decision was taken to
"protect national security from the dangers of terrorism and
extremism".
"Qatar embraces multiple terrorist and sectarian groups
aimed at disturbing stability in the region, including the Muslim Brotherhood,
Isis and al-Qaeda, and promotes the message and schemes of these groups through
their media constantly," they told SPA.
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Dr Jean-Marc Rickli, a senior researcher at the Near East
Center for Security and Strategy at King's College London, told IBTimes UK that
Qatar supports several terrorist organisations, including the Muslim
Brotherhood and Hamas, and has diplomatic channels with the Taliban.
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| Donald Trump gives his strong supports to Qatar |
He said the current crisis dates back to 2014, when the UAE
and Bahrain withdrew their ambassadors from Doha over concerns that the Qatari
government was sponsoring the Muslim Brotherhood. Nine months later the
diplomats were reinstalled in Qatar, but the core issues remain.
Qatar has always denied ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and
has said it is "in favour of maintaining strong and brotherly relations
with GCC countries", according to Reuters. Doha said the accusations of
the other Arab countries were "complete fabrications".
The diplomatic row is the most serious the Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC), which includes all Arab states in the Persian gulf except Iran,
has faced since it was founded in 1981, according to Dr Rickli.
Iran has accused the US of escalating the diplomatic Gulf
crisis. Trump chose to visit Riyadh first on his inaugural foreign trip as
president where he signed a $110bn arms deal, financially supporting the Saudi
government's campaign to combat Iran's expanding influence in the region.
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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's deputy chief of staff,
Hamid Aboutalebi, tweeted: "What is happening now is the preliminary
result of the sword dance", referring to President Trump taking part in a
traditional ceremonial dance during his visit to Riyadh.
Trump's endorsement emboldened Saudi Arabia and its regional
allies to withdraw their support of Qatar. According to Dr Rickli the US
president's "total support" of Saudi and Emirati policy against Iran
was "instrumental in the re-emergence of this crisis".
He added that the six Arab countries were a powerful force
for Qatar to reckon with. The Qatari stock market plummeted after the nations
severed ties with Doha, according to Bloomberg. The row is likely to threaten
food stability in the country as 40% of Qatar's food is believed to come by
lorry from Saudi Arabia.
According to Dr Rickli, the opposition Doha faces is
"simply too powerful" for Qatar "to remain unscathed".
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