Sputnik - After Trump's visit to the Middle East, there has been some tension between countries of the Persian Gulf, especially between the emirate of Qatar and Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Political analyst Atef Abdel Jawad told Sputnik Arabic what is behind this development.





“The US has little to do with the recent relations of Qatar with its neighbors. Qatar has a special place in the US policy toward the Middle East because it is needed to maintain ties with some terrorist groups, for example, the Taliban,” Jawad said.

The analyst further said that Qatar also aided in organizing the ransom of European citizens who fell into the captivity of terrorist groups.

According to the analyst during his visit, the US president did not go into the subtleties of relations between the countries, as the main topics were the fight against terrorism and confrontation with Iran.

The director of the Center for Middle East Studies, Anwar Ishki, believes that in order to reduce tension, Qatar must fulfill certain requirements.
“It must break off relations with Iran, stop confrontations with the Persian Gulf countries, refuse financing information channel Al-Jazeera, which works against Saudi Arabia and the UAE,” Ishki said.


Furthermore, as the director pointed out Qatar should not provide assistance to terrorist groups in the region and to Houthis in Yemen.

Ishki also said that it looks like the White House has made it clear that Qatar should listen to instructions from Riyadh.

Perhaps, it is this attitude of the American president that prompts Qatar to search for other allies in the region, in order to strengthen its influence.