Tillerson Still Believes Gulf States, Qatar Can Resolve Crisis Themselves

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson still believes the Gulf States and Qatar can resolve the blockade crisis themselves, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a briefing.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Qatar’s Ambassador to the United States, Meshal bin Hamad Al-Thani, said in an opinion piece for The Washington Post published on Thursday, that Arab neighbors blockading his country are trying to harm relations between Doha and Washington by accusing the country of supporting terrorism. He also said Doha had not received any conditions for the lifting of the blockade.

"The Secretary [Tillerson] has said and continues to say that he believes that this dispute can be resolved with the parties themselves," Nauert said on Thursday.

Nauert claimed that the United States is still optimistic that the Gulf States’ demands to Qatar will be "reasonable and actionable."

The spokesperson noted that Tillerson has had a series of phone calls and meetings in which the matter has been the top topic.

On June 5, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terror and destabilizing the Middle East. Yemen, the Maldives, Mauritius, Mauritania, the Comoros and the government of the eastern division of Libya followed suit. Jordan and Djibouti declared downgraded diplomatic ties with Doha, while Senegal recalled its Qatari ambassador.

Qatar has denied the accusations, adding that Doha would not take retaliatory measures.

The crisis broke out soon after the Qatari news agency published a statement of the country's emir calling for establishment of relations with Tehran and expressing support for the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization, outlawed in many countries, including Russia. The Qatari authorities stated that their leader had not made such a statement and the agency's website was hacked. However, this explanation was not considered as convincing by several countries, including Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.