Doha: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday took his mission to break the deadlock between Qatar and four Arab states to the tiny, energy-rich nation at the heart of the dispute, putting pressure on the American allies to patch up their differences.

The visit to Qatar is Tillerson’s second stop on a shuttle-diplomacy circuit that will also take him to Saudi Arabia, which shares Qatar’s only land border.

Foreign ministers from the four Arab states leading the boycott of Qatar will meet with Tillerson in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah on Wednesday to discuss the crisis, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

“Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry received an invitation from his Saudi counterpart, Adel Al Jubeir, to attend a meeting of foreign ministers from the four Arab states boycotting Qatar with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Jeddah tomorrow,” the ministry said in a statement, on Tuesday.

Describing himself as a “friend to the region”, Tillerson expressed hope for progress in ending the standoff in brief remarks following a meeting with 37-year-old Emir Shaih Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani.

Tillerson, a former oilman with years of experience in the oil-rich region, began his Gulf visit on Monday by meeting Kuwait’s ruler, Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah.

The Kuwaiti leader has been acting as a mediator between Qatar and the quartet of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

The four nations broke off relations with Qatar and cut air, sea and land routes with it in early June over Qatar’s support to terrorist groups. They later issued a 13-point list of demands to restore relations and gave Doha 10 days to comply.

The demands include Qatar shutting down news outlets, including the media network Al Jazeera, cutting ties with Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, limiting ties with Iran and expelling Turkish troops stationed in the country.

US officials have said Tillerson does not expect an immediate breakthrough in the dispute and cautioned that a resolution could take months.

Qatar is not new territory for Tillerson. Before being tapped to be President Donald Trump’s top diplomat, he served for years as CEO of Exxon Mobil.

The Irving, Texas-based oil giant is one of the most dominant players in Opec member Qatar’s energy industry, and played a major role in turning it into the world’s largest producer of liquefied natural gas.