One-Year After Moves to Isolate Qatar, Bahrain Slaps New Sanction on Gulf Neighbor

One year after Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, accusing Qatar of supporting terrorism, moved to isolate it by cutting diplomatic ties and imposing sanctions in the areas of transportation and trade, rather than “blowing over” as many believed would be the case, at least one Gulf neighbor has upped the ante. The Interior Ministry of Bahrain announced on Tuesday that no new visas would be issued for Qatari nationals although those already in effect would not be threatened. The reason remains vague: the Bahrainis referred only to “hostile acts” but neither gave other reasons nor expounded on what the “hostile acts” might be. Obligations Bahrain has to the Gulf Cooperation Council might be called into question by placing restrictions on Qataris.