Cairo: Kuwait is seeking to “cool” Qatar’s years-long crisis with other Gulf countries with full backing from the US, Kuwaiti newspaper Al Qabas reported Friday, citing well-informed sources.
“The Kuwaiti move is completely supported by the US which looks forward to a solution, even a partial one, to the issue of closing airspaces to the Qatari aircraft intensely used by the US army present in the region after the global air traffic has been halted due to the coronavirus outbreak,” the sources added.
On June 5 2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt broke off diplomatic and transportation links with Qatar over its support for extremist groups.
The boycott has taken a toll on the tiny emirate’s economy. It has also cast a shadow over the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that comprises Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman.
The Qatari airliners have largely detoured their routes to Iran due to the boycott from the four countries. Tensions have recently mounted between Iran and the US.
Over the past three years, Kuwait has sought to end the rift without success so far. Kuwait has recently renewed its efforts and is seeking to stop hostile media campaigns that have recently flared up in connection with the row, Al Qabas reported.
The paper quoted the sources as saying that the US believes that Qatar’s switch to the Iranian airspace may pose a “miscalculated” danger to American soldiers. “Tehran also makes financial gains from the use of its airspace, a situation that runs counter to the US resolve to tighten an economic stranglehold on Iran,” the sources added.
Last month, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Shaikh Ahmad Nasser Al Sabah visited Saudi Arabia where he conveyed messages from Emir Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber to the Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz and Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.
Earlier in May, the Kuwaiti minister delivered a message from Emir Sabah to the Qatari Emir Tamim Al Thani.
The Saudi-led bloc has repeatedly announced a raft of conditions for mending fences with Doha.
The demands include Qatar’s severance of links with militant and terror groups, scaling down ties with Iran and shutting down Al Jazeera TV, seen as a mouthpiece of the banned Muslim Brotherhood.
Qatar has refused the conditions, saying they violate its sovereignty.
