Qatar

Qatar has lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization against the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain for blocking its air traffic and increasing the costs of basic food and medicine imports. Though intra-Gulf state economic relations continue to suffer as a result of the current crisis, there are long-standing barriers to trade...

On the surface, Yemen’s reaction to the Gulf crisis, in which Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, along with Egypt, have broken diplomatic ties with Qatar, was rather straightforward: On June 5, Yemen’s internationally recognized government cut ties with Qatar, accusing the country of backing the Houthis and Yemen-based extremist groups. The Qatari...

On the heels of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced plans to visit Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. As the Gulf Cooperation Council diplomatic crisis continues, Erdogan’s presence likely will do little to calm regional tensions. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s own visit resulted in a U.S.-Qatar agreement to...

As the crisis regarding Qatar’s relations with four other key Arab countries – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt – enters its second month, the recent meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo appears to offer a new framework to resolve the standoff. The representatives of the four countries imposing severe restrictions...

As the confrontation between the Arab coalition and Qatar nears the one-month mark, with Doha insisting it intends to reject the 13 demands placed before it, it’s becoming increasingly clear that if there is to be any kind of reconciliation it will be brokered by Washington. The parties seem to recognise this, as the flurry...

Three weeks after the Gulf Cooperation Council’s worst crisis erupted, the diplomatic and economic boycott imposed on Qatar – the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) – has created only marginal logistical disruptions for international LNG markets and has had no impact on oil supplies. Qatar, one of the smallest producers in OPEC...

Challenges have now emerged from Qatar’s three closest neighbors that are testing its two-pronged security modus operandi.

On June 20, a U.S. State Department spokesperson announced what seemed to be a crucial shift in the U.S. approach to the confrontation between a group of Washington’s core Arab allies – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt – and another major partner, Qatar. Noting that “it’s been more than two weeks...