Kuwait says no imminent solution to Gulf crisis

Kuwait’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Khalid Al-Jarallah, said Monday that there is no imminent prospect of a solution to the Gulf crisis.

“The crisis has not stopped and the media campaigns have not stopped,” Al-Jarallah said, stressing that the rift between Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt on the one hand and Qatar on the other remains unsolved.

On 24 January, Qatari Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Thani, told Bloomberg that there was no prospect of solving the Gulf crisis. Al-Jarallah added earlier this week that he agrees with the Qatari minister, stressing that there is no solution on the horizon.

Remarking on Qatar’s announcement that, despite developing its relations with Turkey, Iran and Iraq, its relationship with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is inevitable, the Kuwaiti official said that Qatar has the right to develop its relations with others but that does not mean excluding them from the GCC.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain demand that Qatar reduce its relations with Iran and terminate a contract with Turkish troops stationed in Qatar in exchange for solving the crisis. However, the Qatari foreign minister stressed that his country has a close strategic relationship with Turkey that it is unwilling to sever.

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