US President Donald Trump revealed that the decision by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to isolate Qatar for its alleged support of terror organizations, came after the security conference he attended in Riyadh during his Middle East tour, when President Trump demanded of the Arab countries to immediately halt the support of terror and work to that end dangerous phenomenon.
“The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level. And, in the wake of that conference, nations came together and spoke to me about confronting Qatar over its behavior. So, we had a decision to make: do we take the easy road or do we finally take a hard but necessary action? We have to stop the funding of terrorism. I decided, along with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, our great generals and military people, that time had come to call on Qatar to end its funding. They have to end that funding, and its extremist ideology, in terms of funding,” said Trump.
Even though proof was presented to the international community of Qatar’s ongoing support of recognized terror organizations, including the Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoot Hamas, Europe continues to urge all countries involved to de-escalate the situation.
“We also made it very clear that in Germany and in Europe we have a very big interest in no further escalation in the Gulf region. Everyone needs to look for ways how to get back to a better understanding between the Gulf states and especially toward Qatar,” said Gabriel.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel pointed to a Western concern that the crisis with Qatar could hinder the international efforts to combat the Islamic State. “Of course our concern is if this conflict can be contained again. Can the Gulf states work together again? This is not only important for the region but we also need cooperation in the coalition against IS (Islamic State). It is hard to imagine the dangers that could be the result of an ongoing crisis in the region,” said Gabriel.
Nevertheless, Saudi Arabia, together with its regional allies, continue to reject demands to end Qatar’s isolations – pointing to the fact that Doha rejected to demands by its Arab neighbors and continues to support both terrorism and Iran’s policy of regional aggression.