President Donald Trump reportedly warned Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates not to use military force in the early days of their regional dispute with Qatar in a meeting at the U.N. Tuesday, according to Bloomberg News.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Arab countries diplomatically cut off relations with Qatar in June, alleging that the tiny nation is funding terrorists and is too close to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Qatar instead maintains that it is being bullied for an independent foreign policy, and has found little room for compromise in the now months-long crisis.
Egypt and Bahrain joined Saudi Arabia and the UAE in their dispute with Qatar. Use of military force by Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates against Qatar would likely throw the region into chaos. The U.S. maintains thousands of troops at a military base in Qatar, along with significant business interests in the oil and natural gas sector of the country.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain also, however, harbor major U.S. interests, including the Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which is responsible for policing shipping channels through which much of the world’s petroleum moves.
Trump denied waving the Gulf countries off military action in a meeting with Qatar’s Emir Tuesday at the U.N. General Assembly, saying, “We are right now in a situation where we’re trying to solve a problem in the Middle East and I think we’ll get it solved. I have a very strong feeling that it will be solved pretty quickly.”
The dispute would also threaten to distract from a U.S. effort to marshal Gulf support for a tougher stance towards Iran. The Trump administration has emphasized its relationship with Saudi Arabia as it considers withdrawing or attempting to renegotiate the 2015 nuclear deal.
Saudi and Emirati officials similarly denied the report to Bloomberg News.
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