Tillerson meets Saudi King before Arab Quartet talks

Saudi King Salman bin Abdel Aziz received US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday, ahead of a meeting with Foreign Ministers of the four Arab countries that have established a blockade against Qatar.

At the meeting, which took place in the al-Salam palace in the city of Jeddah, Aziz and Tillerson spoke of efforts to combat terrorism and its financing and the development of the regional diplomatic crisis, Efe news cited a statement from the Saudi official press agency SPA.

Tillerson visited Qatar on Tuesday and is scheduled to meet later on Wednesday with the Foreign Ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, with the aim of exploring possible ways to end the diplomatic crisis that started on June 5.

During his visit to Doha, the US and Qatar signed a memorandum of understanding against the financing of terrorism.

That agreement, according to the Qatari government, is unrelated to the diplomatic crisis, which was triggered by accusations by the Arab quartet against Doha over its alleged support for extremist groups.

Earlier, as part of the same tour, Tillerson visited Kuwait, the main mediating country in the crisis, to seek a formula accepted by both Qatar and the quartet, that has submitted a list of 13 demands to Doha to normalize relations with the small Persian Gulf country.

The US has pushed for the break of ties to be resolved as quickly as possible, and warned that it hampers operations against the millitant outfit Islamic State.

--IANS

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