The Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Abo El-Gheit, said that he is watching developments in the Gulf region with great interest and he feels sorry about the situation.
Abo El-Gheit expresses hope that the region will pass this tension rapidly to protect the Arab national security.
On Monday morning, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Yemen and Libya’s eastern-based government in addition to Maldives cut their ties with Qatar. The six Arab governments accused Qatar of supporting terrorism, supporting Iran, disturbing security and stability in the region.
According to the last maneuvers, the three Gulf states gave Qatari visitors and residents two weeks to leave their countries. Qatar was also expelled from a Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen.
The United States:
The United States Secretary of State,Rex Tillerson, has urged the Gulf countries to resolve their differences. Tillerson added, during his visit to Australia on Monday, that stability in the Gulf Cooperation Countries is important for the U.S.
The U.S military said that its military base in Qatar [Al-Udeid] will not be affected by the Qatari-Khaliji rift. “We’ve seen no impact to our operations and all flights continue as planned,” Lieutenant-Colonel Damien Pickart, a spokesman for US Air Forces Central Command, told Reuters.
Lt. Pickart expressed the U.S and the [anti-Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, US-led] coalition are grateful to the Qataris for their enduring commitment to regional security.
Qatar hosts Al-Udeid airbase, the largest U.S military base in the Middle East.
Iran:
The Islamic Republic of Iran commented on the Gulf diplomatic spat and called upon all sides to respect the sovereignty of each state.
The Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted saying that “Neighbours are permanent; geography can’t be changed. Coercion is never the solution. Dialogue is imperative, especially during blessed Ramadan.”
Zarif chose not to comment on the rift with his Qatari counterpart of on the phone.
Head of the Iranian agricultural crops syndicate, Reda Nourani, expressed his readiness to export all the agricultural crops and food stuffs to Qatar through three ports in southern Iran, state owned news agency FARS reported on Monday.
Nourani asserted that Iran can send food stuffs and agricultural corps to Doha in 12 hours, pointing out that Qatar imports food stuffs by about four or five USD billion, from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Emirates.
Israel:
The first official Israeli comment on the Gulf crisis came from Israeli defence minister Avigdor Lieberman. Leibernman said the decision to sever ties with Qatar, which he described as a “strong backbone of Mideast terror,” opened a world of opportunities for collaboration, according to the Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post.
Lieberman added that the gulf maneouvre “served as a great opportunity for Israel to join forces with its neighbors in the battle against Islamic terror.”
“Even Arab states understand that the risk to this region is not Israel, but rather terrorism—this is an opportunity to collaborate,” Lieberman stated.
According to the Israeli newspaper, Israel’s image in the region likely can improve amid the current developments, and Israel cares about the Qatar crisis for five reasons. “It hurts Hamas, it brings Israel closer to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the Gulf, it shows US influence is back in the region, it delegitimises terrorism, and it bolsters Israel’s hand in general and Israel’s government in particular.”
Turkey:
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed his country’s solidarity with Qatar amid the current crisis with some Gulf states. President Erdoğan discussed the situation with Emir of Qatar, king of Saudi Arabia, Emir of Kuwait, and expressed his readiness to mediate and resolve the crisis.
“We see the stability in the Gulf region as our own unity and solidarity,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a press conference Monday. Cavusoglu called for dialogue to resolve the dispute, adding that Ankara was “saddened” by the situation and will give any support for its normalisation.
Russia:
Russia said that a stable and peaceful situation in the Gulf region is important to the country. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow hopes that the diplomatic row will not affect, “the common determination and resolve,” in the joint fight against “international terrorism”.
Sudan:
“Sudan calls for refraining from escalation and to overcome differences with wisdom, and keenness to the interests of the countries and peoples of the Arab nation,” said Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour in a written statement.
Sudan has strong diplomatic ties with Qatar. Doha supported the Sudanese government with tensions in Darfur.
The foreign ministry further expressed Sudan’s readiness to exert efforts with the other brother countries to stop escalation and to reconcile between Qatar and the other six Arab countries, saying that Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir backed Kuwaiti efforts to mediate and negotiate a settlement to overcome the dispute.
The Kuwaiti mediation:
Emir of Kuwait Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah joined the effort to encourage cooperation among the Gulf states. He also called on all sides to calm down and support efforts that aim to end the dispute.
Kuwait is believed to play an important role in ending the latest tension between Qatar and other gulf countries like the role it had played in 2014.
Neutrals:
“The moves against Qatar would not impact New Delhi’s ties with Doha, Sushma Swaraj, Foreign Minister of India said on Monday. Swaraj described the situation in Gulf region as an internal matter of the Gulf Cooperation Countries.
Also, he added that the Indian government only concerns about Indians in Qatar.
Pakistan also said it has no plans to cut diplomatic ties with Qatar. The Pakistani government will issue a statement if some development takes place, Nafees Zakaria, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s foreign ministry, said.
The Gulf Sultanate of Oman which prefers not to be involved in any escalation in the region, started its diplomatic efforts coordinating with Kuwait to end the dispute, deputy of the society of journalists in Oman told local gulf media.
