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Qatar to attend GCC summit in Saudi Arabia
The Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday, his first visit since a blockade against Qatar was put in place two years ago.
Last week, Al Thani was invited by the Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to attend an emergency Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit on May 30 in Jeddah, the Director of Information Office in Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement yesterday.
The summit will discuss the implications of drone strikes on oil installations in the Saudi Kingdom and attacks on four vessels, including two Saudi oil tankers, off the UAE coast earlier this month. The US said Iran was behind these attacks although the Islamic Republic denies any involvement.
In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt imposed a diplomatic and economic boycott on Qatar over allegations that the latter is siding with Iran and supports terrorism and proscribed opposition political movements, such as the Muslim Brotherhood. Qatar has rejected the accusations as baseless.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met Qatar Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani in Doha yesterday. The Qatar Foreign Ministry said the two sides “expressed their concern about escalations and problems in the region”. Araqchi said Iran was ready to engage in dialogue with Gulf Arab countries in order to address escalating tensions in the region.
US National Security Adviser John Bolton arrived in the UAE yesterday for scheduled talks. Bolton said on Twitter: “Just landed in the UAE. Looking forward to meeting with our Emirati allies tomorrow to discuss important and timely regional security matters.”
On Friday the US announced the deployment of an extra 1,500 troops to the Middle East, describing it as an effort to bolster defences against Iran as it accused the country’s Revolutionary Guards of direct responsibility for recent attacks in the Gulf.
Tensions have increased between the two countries after a US decision earlier this month to send an aircraft carrier group and B-52 bombers to the region after the US announced that it has credible intelligence of Iranian backed threats to US forces in the Middle East.