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Dubai / Rome – Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said on Friday that a resolution to a bitter dispute with Qatar seemed “within reach” after Kuwait announced progress to end a dispute that Washington says hinders a united Gulf front against Iran.
The United States and Kuwait have worked to end the dispute, during which Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt imposed a travel, trade and diplomatic embargo on Qatar since mid-2017.
US President Donald Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner had held talks in Doha on Wednesday after a visit to Saudi Arabia.
“We have made significant progress in recent days thanks to Kuwait’s continued efforts, but also thanks to the strong support of President Trump,” Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud said in a conference in Rome via video link.
“We hope that this progress can lead to a final agreement that appears to be within our reach and I can say that I am somewhat optimistic that we are close to finalizing an agreement between all the nations in dispute.”
A source in Washington familiar with the discussions said the parties had reached a tentative agreement and that it could be signed in a few weeks.
“They are working to take what is an agreement in principle and get it signed,” the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah, welcomed the events on Friday, the state-run KUNA news agency said.
He quoted him as saying that “this agreement has demonstrated that all stakeholders are interested in maintaining pan-Gulf and pan-Arab solidarity, unity and stability.”
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, speaking remotely at a Bahrain summit on Friday, said the United States had “high hopes” that the dispute would be resolved.
All the countries involved are allies of the United States. Qatar is home to the largest US military base in the region, Bahrain is home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are home to US troops.
Washington has been pushing to reopen Gulf airspace for Qatari jets as a first step, diplomats and sources said.
Boycotting nations accuse Doha of supporting terrorism. Qatar denies the charges and says the embargo is aimed at undermining its sovereignty.
Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nasser al-Sabah said on Friday that a fruitful discussion had recently taken place “in which all parties expressed their enthusiasm for the unity and stability of the Gulf and the Arab countries, and for reaching a final agreement that makes lasting solidarity a reality. “
In a Twitter post, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani welcomed Kuwait’s declaration as “an imperative step” to resolve the gap.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres is encouraged by Kuwait’s declaration and hopes that all the countries involved will work together to formally resolve their differences, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a Twitter post that he hoped that the Gulf reconciliation “will contribute to the stability and political and economic development of all the peoples of our region.”
The Qatari minister earlier said at the Rome conference that Doha hoped “things would move in the right direction” but that any resolution should be based on mutual respect for sovereignty, including foreign policy.
Doha had been set 13 demands, ranging from the closure of Al-Jazeera television and the closure of a Turkish base to the severing of ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and the degradation of ties with Iran, which shares an important gas field with Qatar.
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