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In order to end the breach in the Gulf region, Kushner will meet with the Emir of Qatar and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, according to US media reports.
Top White House adviser Jared Kushner and his team will travel to Saudi Arabia and Qatar this week for talks aimed at resolving the dispute between neighboring Gulf countries, according to US media reports.
A senior official in President Donald Trump’s administration told the Reuters news agency on Sunday that Kushner will meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in the Saudi city of Neom, and with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh. Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani at that time. country in the next few days.
Kushner is eager to persuade the Saudi and Qatari leaders to reconcile and reach an agreement on a number of issues, Axios reported, citing US officials.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic ties and imposed a land, sea and air blockade on Qatar in 2017, accusing Doha of “supporting terrorism” and issuing a list of 13 demands.
Qatar rejected the accusations and demands and accused the blocking countries of undermining its sovereignty.
US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien stated earlier this month that solving the Gulf crisis was a priority for the administration and that there was a possibility that it would happen before Trump leaves office in January.
A senior Saudi official noted last month that there had been some progress in attempts to resolve the more than three-year dispute, saying that Riyadh was “committed to finding a solution.”
“We remain ready to work with our brothers in Qatar and we hope they are equally committed to that commitment,” said Prince Faisal bin Farhan.
“But we have to address the quartet’s legitimate security concerns and I think there is a way to that” with a solution “in the relatively near future,” he said.
Earlier this month, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said there were no winners in the Gulf crisis and Doha was hopeful that it would end “at any moment.”
White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner (left) meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (right) during his visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. [File: Saudi Press Agency via Reuters]
US envoys to the Middle East, Avi Berkowitz and Brian Hook, will join Kushner, as well as Adam Boehler, chief executive of the US International Development Finance Corporation, Reuters and Axios reported.
Kushner and his team have helped negotiate normalization agreements between Israel and Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan since August. Officials said they would like to advance more such deals before US President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20, US media reported.
US officials believe that luring Saudi Arabia into a deal with Israel would prompt other Arab nations to follow suit. But the Saudis do not appear to be on the verge of reaching such a historic deal and officials in recent weeks have focused on other countries, with concerns about Iran’s regional influence as a unifying factor.
Kushner’s trip comes after the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in Tehran on Friday by unidentified assailants. The Western and Israeli governments believe that Fakhrizadeh was the architect of a secret Iranian nuclear weapons program.
Days before the assassination, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Saudi Arabia and met with MBS, an Israeli official said, in what was the first publicly confirmed visit by an Israeli leader. Israeli media said they were joined by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The historic meeting underscored how opposition to Tehran is causing a strategic realignment of the Middle Eastern countries.
MBS and Netanyahu fear that Biden will adopt policies on Iran similar to those adopted during the US presidency of Barack Obama, straining Washington’s ties with its traditional allies in the Middle East.
Biden has said he will join the international nuclear pact with Iran that Trump resigned in 2018, and will work with allies to strengthen its terms, if Tehran first resumes strict compliance.
The official said Kushner met at the White House last week with Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah. Kuwait is seen as central to any effort to resolve a three-year gap between Qatar and the blocking countries.
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