Alwaght- US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has ended a four-day mission in the Persian Gulf and failed to reconcile warring Arab allies amid a spiraling Qatar crisis.
Tillerson met Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for the second time in 48 hours, together with a Kuwaiti mediator, on the final leg of his trip trying to repair a rift that is dividing some of America's most important West Asia allies, before heading back to Washington on Thursday empty handed.
Despite an intense round of shuttle diplomacy that also took him to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, tensions remain high between Qatar and four Arab states.
Since June 5th last month, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Egypt cut diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar, which they accuse of supporting Palestinian Hamas resistance movement, the Muslim Brotherhood and having close ties with neighboring Iran. Qatar has defended itself against the accusation saying the said groups are not terrorist while insisting on having good ties with Iran. The Saudi-led regimes later issued demands that Qatar must meet before ties are restored including curtailing its support for the Muslim Brotherhood, shutting down the al-Jazeera TV channel, closing a Turkish military base in Doha and downgrading its ties with Iran. Qatar rejected the demands saying are illogical and infringe on its sovereignty.
Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is expected to arrive in the region over the next few days to tray and cool down the crisis.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was also in the region a few days ago and was unable to reconcile the Saudi-led regimes with Qatar.
