11 June, 2017
Trump says he consulted with Saudi Arabia and others on a recent trip to Riyadh and made a decision to call out Qatar for its "very high level" of terror financing.
DUBAI/DOHA: Banks and firms across Gulf Arab nations sought to keep business links to Qatar open and avoid a costly fire sale of assets on Wednesday as a political freeze descended on the region.
However, he had earlier claimed credit for the pressure placed on Qatar saying his recent visit to Saudi Arabia was "already paying off".
President Donald Trump spoke to Qatar's emir on Wednesday, offering United States mediation in a crisis that has split Washington's allies and pushed regional powers toward confrontation.
The developments intensified a confrontation between Qatar and a group of Arab nations led by Saudi Arabia and Egypt that accuse it of fomenting instability.
Adel al-Jubeir says he hopes Qatar can respond to demands put forward by his country, Bahrain, The United Arab Emirates and Egypt to "restore relations to how they were in the past".
"Qatar has to redress its path and has to go back to all previous commitments, it has to stop media campaigns and has to distance itself from our number one enemy, Iran", he said.
Along with severing diplomatic ties with Qatar, a Riyadh-led blockade was imposed against Doha.
Both Qatar and the USA sought to show the rift wasn't affecting military cooperation.
French government spokesman Christophe Castaner says Wednesday in a news conference following the weekly Cabinet meeting that "Qatar must ensure transparency".
The diplomat did not provide evidence or details, but said the press had spoken of it. He said families were being separated, children removed from school and Qataris forced to deal with food shortages.
"We believe these are unintended consequences, especially during this Holy Month of Ramadan, but they can be addressed immediately", he said.
The Kuwaiti ruler played a pivotal role in mediating a compromise in a 2014 diplomatic dispute between Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Gulf states.
Qatar hosts the Al-Udeid military base, the largest US airbase in the Middle East.
Still, the Pentagon has been developing contingency plans in case there's any interruption, defense officials said. The office runs the Qatar Foundation, which is the principal funder of Education City, located on the outskirts of Doha, where most of the country's branch campuses are located.
There was no immediate reaction from Qatar, which hosts some 10,000 US troops.
"Despite Qatari denials, Sky News Arabia and Al Arabiya kept running the discredited story, prompting complaints of questionable journalism at the channels", Al Jazeera said in its report, ending with, "Al Jazeera approached Sky News Arabia's joint owner, Sky PLC in the United Kingdom, to ask what media standards their Gulf affiliate adheres to, but they have yet to comment".
Asked for specifics about what Arab nations wanted from Qatar, Gargash said expelling members of Hamas and other groups like the Muslim Brotherhood from Qatar was important.
Qatar long has denied supporting or funding terror groups. Qatar also backs the Palestinian political and militant group Hamas and the worldwide Islamist movement the Muslim Brotherhood, which Saudi Arabia and Egypt oppose.
It is the worst split between powerful Arab states in decades.
