Analysis: Qatar Crisis Explained: What Just Happened and Why It Messes Up Trump’s Iran and ISIS Plans
The sudden breaking of diplomatic ties between Qatar and its neighbors Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt places a serious dilemma at the U.S. president’s doorstep. Only three weeks ago, at a Gulf summit in Riyadh attended by Donald Trump on his first state visit, his people lavished praise on Qatar. Earlier, his defense secretary, James Mattis, declared that relations between Washington and Doha were good and would only get better.
Trump and his administration were pleased with the show of unity organized by the Saudis, who a year earlier had established the “Sunni coalition” designed to block Iran’s influence in the Middle East and combat terror. Qatar was a member of this coalition before Monday’s great rift. The question now is whether the Saudis will want to leverage the huge investments they promised Trump – more than $300 billion for arms purchases and $40 billion for investing in U.S. infrastructure – to demand that Washington follow suit and add Qatar to its list of states supporting terror.
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