Trump meets with Qatar’s emir and predicts row with neighbours will be resolved soon

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on Tuesday renewed a call for “unconditional dialogue” to end a political crisis pitting Qatar against four Arab states while US President Donald Trump said he expected the dispute to be resolved quickly.

Speaking from the podium of the 193-member United Nations General Assembly, Sheikh Tamim renewed the call “for an unconditional dialogue based on mutual respect for sovereignty”.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain cut diplomatic and trade links with Qatar on June 5, suspending air and shipping routes with the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, which is home to the region’s biggest US military base.

The nations say Doha supports regional foe Iran and Islamists, charges Qatar’s leaders deny.

Kuwait has been trying to mediate the dispute and the United States has taken an increasingly robust role in trying to bring an end to the crisis, but as yet to no avail.

Trump and Sheikh Tamim later held a meeting in which the emir was careful to emphasise the strong Qatar-US relationship after Trump appeared to be more sympathetic to the Saudi position at the start of the crisis. Qatar hosts Al Udeid airbase, the largest US military facility in the Middle East.