Qatar well-prepared for military move from neighbours, confident of US support

Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said his country was well-prepared should the Gulf neighbours decide to make a military move, reported Gulf Times.

He said Qatar could count on its defence partners including France, Turkey, the UK and the US, which has a base in Qatar.

“We’ve enough friends in order to stop them from taking these steps, but there’s a pattern of unpredictability in their behavior so we’ve to keep all the options on the table for us,” he said.

On the US military presence, “if there’s any aggression when it comes to Qatar, those forces will be affected,” he said, according to Bloomberg News.

He also sounded confident that his country has the USA’s support in the ongoing Gulf crisis, which began more than five months ago on June 5.

While the Donald Trump administration is encouraging all sides to end the dispute and has offered to host talks at the Camp David presidential retreat, only Qatar has agreed to the dialogue, Sheikh Mohamed said.

The top official said he will meet Secretary of State Rex Tillerson next week after having talks this week with Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker and ranking member Ben Cardin as well as other congressional leaders, reported Bloomberg News.

“The Middle East needs to be addressed as the top priority of the foreign policy agenda of the United States,” he said.

Mediation attempts by Kuwait and the US have failed to settle the spat with the Saudi-led bloc and Qatar.

Picture courtesy: Zero Hedge