Donald Trump backs Saudis, US military praises Qatar

Trump also tweeted that his recent Saudi Arabia trip was 'already paying off'

President Donald Trump threw his weight behind the Saudi-led diplomatic isolation of Qatar, calling it just punishment for the country’s financial support for Islamic extremists and taking sides in a dispute among key US allies in the Persian Gulf.
 
The Pentagon on Tuesday renewed praise of Qatar for hosting US forces and its "enduring commitment to regional security," sticking to a message of reassurance even as President Donald Trump, via Twitter, applauded a decision by Arab powers to cut ties to the Gulf ally.
 
Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis declined to answer a question about whether Qatar supported terrorism, the accusation made by Arab states, saying: "I’m not the right person to ask that. I consider them a host to our very important base at al Udeid."

 

“During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology,” Trump said on Twitter on Tuesday. “Leaders pointed to Qatar —look!”
 
He followed with two additional tweets, saying the action was proof that his meeting with Persian Gulf Arab leaders in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia earlier this month was “already paying off.”
 
“Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!” he said.
 
The US wasn’t warned by its Arab allies about an impending move to isolate Qatar during Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia late last month, according to two administration officials. But Trump was aware at the time of his meeting in Saudi Arabia of longstanding tensions among the Gulf nations fuelled by Qatar’s financial support for extremist groups and coziness with Iran, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

 
Oil was little changed on Tuesday.
 
Prices surged on Monday before settling lower as the rupture was seen as having little impact on global oil supplies. West Texas Intermediate for July delivery declined 13 cents to $47.27 a barrel at 9:50 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
 
Trump’s tweets marked a shift from the US position just a day earlier.
 
On Monday, the White House had said it was seeking to “de-escalate” the crisis and is committed to holding talks with all parties. Saudi Arabia and three regional allies -- the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain -- accused their fellow Gulf Cooperation Council member of supporting a range of violent groups, from proxies of Shiite Muslim Iran to the Sunni militants of al-Qaeda and Islamic State. They suspended flights and sea travel to Qatar, ordering Qatari diplomats and citizens out.

 
Trump’s “tweet fuels more conflict, increases tensions and will be used by those who are trying to demonize Qatar,” said Mahjoob Zweiri, a professor of Middle Eastern politics at Qatar University in Doha.
 
Qatar has dismissed the Saudi charges as baseless, and said the Saudis are seeking to dominate the region. Western officials have expressed concerns that Qatar may back fundamentalist groups, but they’ve also raised similar issues about Saudi Arabia.
 
“We are combating the funding for any terrorist group,” Qatar Foreign Minister Mohammed Al Thani told CNN.
 
The crisis pits U.S. allies against each other, disrupting trade, flights and business activity in one of the world’s most strategically important regions. The Saudi-led action has prompted some analysts to openly speculate about the possibility of regime change in Qatar, the No. 1 exporter of liquefied natural gas, whose sovereign wealth fund owns stakes in global companies from Barclays Plc to Credit Suisse Group.

 
The crisis has roots as far back as 1995, when the current emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Bin Al Thani deposed his own pro-Saudi father and the country began shipping natural gas from the world’s largest reservoir, a resource it shares with Iran.
 
Qatar used its gas wealth to back the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Hamas in the Gaza Strip and armed factions opposed by the UAE or Saudi Arabia in Libya and Syria. Gas also paid for a global television network, Al Jazeera, which at various times has embarrassed or angered most Middle Eastern governments.

 
‘Careful Wording’
 
“Moving Qatar away from supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and others is good for the region and the world,” said Paul Sullivan, a professor at Georgetown University in Washington. “It may be partially done by public missives and speeches, but a lot of this has to be behind the scenes. And careful wording is needed-- very careful wording. This situation could spin in many directions. And some of those directions are likely not where we want to go.”
 
The U.S. has previously had a friendly and cooperative relationship with the country. It’s home to the forward headquarters of the U.S. military’s Central Command. The U.S. ambassador to Qatar, Dana Shell Smith, drew a contrast with Trump on Monday, retweeting previous posts from the U.S. embassy complimenting Qatar for combating terrorism financing and joining the coalition against Islamic State.

 
Smith is a career foreign service officer who was nominated for her post by former President Barack Obama, donated to Hillary Clinton’s campaign and hasn’t yet been replaced by Trump.
 
“It’s not a coincidence for the spat between Qatar and Saudi Arabia to erupt right after Trump’s visit to the region,” Sinan Ulgen, a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, said by phone. “Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. have decided to put pressure on Qatar, which so far has seemed to refrain from pursuing equally harsh policies toward Iran. Trump’s latest tweet is a reflection of his anti-Iran stance.”

 
Mediation efforts intensified on Tuesday, with Kuwaiti ruler Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah traveling to Saudi Arabia for talks to defuse the crisis. Sheikh Sabah also spoke with Qatar’s ruler and urged him to avoid any escalation, Kuwaiti state-run media reported.
 
The escalation in tensions hit Qatari stocks on Monday, with the benchmark QE Index falling the most since 2009. The country’s main stock gauge extended its losses on Tuesday, dropping 1.6 per cent.