Two US envoys travel to the Gulf to help resolve the Qatar crisis

Two US special envoys will be in the Gulf this week to meet with regional officials to help resolve the diplomatic crisis between Qatar and four Arab countries that has lasted more than two months, a US State Department official said yesterday (August 7).

The two special envoys are senior diplomat Tim Lenderking and retired general and former special envoy to the Middle East Anthony Zinni. The two special envoys are tasked with promoting reconciliation and maintaining constant pressure on the ground on the parties to find an early solution to the current diplomatic crisis in the Gulf.

Tim Lenderking and Anthony Zinni (Photo: Arabnews)

On June 5, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt severed diplomatic relations with Qatar, an important US ally in the Middle East, accusing Qatar of supporting extremism and building relations with rival Iran.

Qatar has denied the allegations and agreed to Kuwait’s mediation. Kuwait and the US recently reached an agreement to curb terrorist financing. However, there has been no major breakthrough in the Gulf crisis so far.

The parties have yet to hold direct negotiations and the US wants to put pressure on its regional allies to mend relations and cooperate to fight extremism./.

According to VOV