US Delegation Seeks GCC Reconciliation With Qatar

US officials including Jared Kushner, senior adviser to and son-in-law of President Donald Trump, are visiting the Gulf region for a set of meetings with allies. Sources say that, in likely one of the last diplomatic missions of the current US administration, the American officials are holding talks aimed at rolling back a three-year blockade by Gulf Cooperation Council member-states Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, alongside non-GCC member Egypt, of Qatar, which is also in the GCC. In June 2017, the former four countries began an air, sea and land blockade, claiming that Qatar supports terrorism and is too close with Iran. Qatar has denied these charges and refused to comply with the group’s demands to close a Turkish military base on its soil and cool diplomatic relations with Iran. During the visit, the US delegation is reportedly meeting the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the emir of Kuwait, Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. In addition, sources report that Kushner and his colleagues are likely attempting to further talks regarding the normalization of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel.