US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference in Kuwait
Occupied Jerusalem - Gulf crisis hindering efforts to combat regional threats, Pompeo said.
Published: Thu 21 Mar 2019, 9:12 PM
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday (March 20) renewed calls for a resolution to a festering dispute between four Arab nations - Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - and Qatar.
On a visit to Kuwait, which has been attempting to mediate an end to the crisis, Pompeo said the dispute that has roiled the Gulf Cooperation Council for almost two years is hindering efforts to combat regional threats posed by Iran, Daesh and other terrorist groups.
"It's not in the best interest of the region, it's not in the best interest of the world," Pompeo told reporters at a news conference with Kuwait's foreign minister. "We need the Gulf countries working together on the complex set of challenges that face each of them."
Pompeo lauded mediation efforts in the dispute by Kuwait's Amir and said the United States would do whatever it could to assist. "We are working to help those countries find a set of common ground," he said. "We all have the same set of threats, the threats from Al Qaeda and from Daesh, the threat from the Islamic Republic of Iran. We all are working diligently to find a path forward so that the rift between those countries can be resolved."
The four Arab nations began a boycott of Qatar in June 2017 over Qatar funding extremist groups and having too-cozy ties with Iran. Pompeo was in Kuwait on the first leg of a Mideast tour that will take him to Israel and Lebanon.
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