US: Gulf crisis chance to influence Saudi and Qatar

 The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has called on Saudi Arabia to start talks with Qatar to resolve the Gulf crisis.

In a statement at a US Congress hearing on Wednesday, Haley stressed that the current Gulf crisis is an opportunity “to influence” both Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

She pointed out that the blockade is also a chance to let Doha know that the US objects to its support for groups like Hamas.

“But at the same time, go back to Saudi Arabia and say look, you can talk to them [the Qataris], but at the same time, you’ve got to cut this out; you’ve got to stop doing this,” she said, noting that “it’s an opportunity to kind of hit on both of them.”

Read: Timeline of the Arab rift with Qatar

On Tuesday, the US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, said, following talks with the Qatari Foreign Minister, Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, and the Kuwaiti Cabinet Affairs Minister, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Sabah, held in Washington, that starting a “dialogue” between the conflicting parties, is the “only way” to resolve the crisis.

Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar on 5 June accusing the Gulf country of destabilising the region and “supporting terrorism”. They closed their borders, airspace and territorial waters to Qatari ships and airplanes.

Qatar has strongly denied the accusations, describing the move as “complete fabrications” aimed at putting the Gulf Arab state under guardianship.