GOP senator to block Gulf arms sales over crisis with Qatar

An influential Republican senator says that he’ll withhold approval of US weapons sales to several Middle Eastern allies until there is a clear path for settling a diplomatic crisis with Qatar.

Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, says in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that “recent disputes” among members of the Gulf Cooperation Council undermine efforts to combat the Islamic State and counter Iran.

The council is an alliance of six Middle Eastern countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.

Corker says members of the Gulf council, in the wake of a summit in Saudi Arabia last month with Trump, “chose to devolve into conflict” instead of seeking to ease regional tension and expand their security cooperation. “All countries in the region need to do more to combat terrorism, but recent disputes among the GCC countries only serve to hurt efforts to fight (the Islamic State) and counter Iran,” he writes.

Riyadh, along with the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, cut ties with Qatar over allegations that it funds terrorism — an accusation Doha rejects, but that US President Donald Trump has echoed. The move has left Qatar under a de facto blockade by its neighbors.

— AP