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Trump told Sheikh Tamim that he believes the crisis in the Gulf will be 'solved pretty quickly' [Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]

Trump told Sheikh Tamim that he believes the crisis in the Gulf will be 'solved pretty quickly' [Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, cut ties with Qatar, the world's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, on June 5, accusing it of supporting "terrorism" and cosying up to regional rival, Iran. Doha has denied the allegations as "baseless".
On June 22, the group issued a 13-point list of demands, including the shutdown of Al Jazeera, limiting ties with Iran, and expelling Turkish troops stationed in the country as a prerequisite to lifting the blockade. 

Doha rejected all the demands, denouncing them as an attempt to infringe on Qatar's sovereignty, while US-backed Kuwaiti mediation has failed to end the dispute.
For Sigurd Neubauer, a Middle East analyst, the Trump-Tamim meeting was a win for Qatar because it signalled that Doha has friends at the highest level in Washington despite being ostracised by its four US-aligned Arab neighbours. 
"Qatar wants to show that its bonds with the US are unbreakable. Washington wants to show that it doesn't value its relationship with one Gulf country over another. It won't point fingers at who started this crisis, it just wants it resolved," Neubauer told Al Jazeera ahead of the meeting.  

"From Washington's view, there's a Kurdish referendum coming, Palestinian reconciliation, defeating ISIL, the Astana talks on Syria's war and North Korea's nukes. Whether Qatar has a wise foreign policy or not? That's a different matter."

Imad Harb, a research director at Arab Center Washington, DC think tank, agreed, but questioned whether the diplomatic flurry in New York “takes us anywhere” towards ending the crisis as “conditions are not right for reconciliation”.
The meeting will show Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and others that Trump has “changed his mind since the beginning of this crisis” and is no longer playing favourites among the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), of which Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE are members, Harb told Al Jazeera.
But that is not necessarily a game-changer for Saudi, the UAE and others, he said.
“From the beginning, they intended for regime changes and though it didn’t work, they haven’t disabused themselves of that idea.”  
Follow James Reinl on Twitter: @jamesreinl
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