UAE sees no quick end to dispute with Qatar

UAE says it is headed for a "long estrangement" with Qatar after a round of US-brokered talks to resolve the Gulf crisis ended with little sign of progress.

The statement by UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash, suggested no breakthrough in the Qatar crisis after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday wrapped up a four-day mission to the Gulf.
TRT World and Agencies

The statement by UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash, suggested no breakthrough in the Qatar crisis after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday wrapped up a four-day mission to the Gulf.

There will be no quick end to the row between Qatar and the four Arab states boycotting it, the United Arab Emirates minister of state for foreign affairs said on Friday.

"We are headed for a long estrangement ... we are very far from a political solution involving a change in Qatar's course, and in light of that nothing will change and we have to look for a different format of relations," Anwar Gargash wrote on his official Twitter account.

The statement suggested no breakthrough in the situation after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday wrapped up a four-day mission to the Gulf with little sign of progress in resolving the diplomatic crisis pitting Saudi Arabia and its allies against Qatar.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting terrorism and regional rival Iran, charges Doha denies.

The four countries are holding fast to their insistence that Qatar accept a 13-point list of demands that includes shutting down the Al Jazeera network and other news outlets, cutting ties with groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, limiting Qatar's ties with Iran and closing a Turkish military base in the country. In an interview with The Times, UAE's Minister for the Federal National Council, Noura Al Kaabi, said the demand to shut down Al Jazeera had been dropped.

During his Doha visit, Tillerson signed a US-Qatari accord on terrorism financing in an effort to help ease the crisis, but Qatar's opponents said it fell short of allaying their concerns.

But Tillerson's aides had said ahead of time they didn't expect a quick solution would result from his four days of talks.

Tillerson, a former Exxon Mobil CEO with deep experience in the oil-rich Gulf, has been shuttling between Qatar, Saudi Arabia and mediator Kuwait since Monday trying to repair a rift that is dividing some of America's most important allies in the region. Ahead of the trip, the US said the crisis was at an "impasse," but on Thursday the State Department said that was no longer the case.

"Based on his meetings, the secretary believes that getting the parties to talk directly to one another would be an important next step," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters.

"We hope the parties will agree to do so."

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