Qatar Says Progress Made in Talks with Saudi Arabia

Qatar’s foreign minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, on Friday said there had been “some movement” in recent days that may spell the end of the ongoing Qatar crisis, and that he is “hopeful that things will move in the right direction.” Earlier this week, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner met in Doha with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh and with the Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, in a last-ditch effort, before the end of the tenure of the Trump Administration, to resolve the conflict that has been dogging the region for over three years. While carefully optimistic, Qatar’s foreign minister insisted he could “not predict” whether the issue would be resolved imminently or not. In June of 2017, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt imposed a blockade and embargo on Qatar, accusing it of fostering terrorism and cooperating with Iranian regional aggression.