President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi received on Monday a letter from the Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, handed by the Kuwaiti First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah. The letter was regarding the Kuwaiti efforts in resolving the Qatari rift, and efforts in supporting unity and cooperation between the Arab countries amid the different challenges which the Arab nation is facing. He also asserted the pivotal of Egypt in the common Arab work, as it is the base of stability and security in the Arab region, according to a statement by the presidency spokesperson Alaa Youssef. During his meeting with the Kuwaiti delegation, Al-Sisi praised the exerted efforts by Emir of Kuwait and expressed Egypt's support for these efforts. The president also stressed the necessity for Qatar to consider Egypt's and the other three Gulf state's concerns. They agreed to continue coordination and consultation, the statement read. Expert in international relations Ayman Samir believes that the letter of Kuwaiti Emir means that Kuwait still has hope to resolving the crises, which he argued would not be possible if Qatar ignores the demands of the four boycotting states, despite a US intervention. "Qatar has not even partially responded to the demands," Samir added. A list of 13 demands including the shutting down of Al-Jazeera network, stopping supporting and funding terrorism, abstaining from interfering in other countries affairs, cutting ties with Iran, was prepared by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt as conditions to annul their boycott decision on 5 June. Al-Sabah delivered the letter of Kuwaiti Emir to Al-Sisi in presence of Kuwaiti Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs and Acting Minister of Information Sheikh Mohammad Al-Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, in addition to Egypt's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry. A US delegation discussed the Kuwaiti efforts to resolving the Qatari crisis on Monday with the Deputy of Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Jarallah, according to KUNA. The delegation included Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Arabian Gulf Affairs in the Near East Bureau at the U.S. Department of State Timothy Lenderking and the retired general and former Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni, Reuters reported. The trip of the US delegation includes Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, to work on ending the Gulf diplomatic crisis. The US has mixed positions towards the Qatar crisis between the US President Donald Trump who welcomed the boycotting manoeuvrers considering it as a success of his visit to Riyadh in May, and the US Secretary of State and the Ministry of Defence on the other side. Professor of Political Science at the American University in Cairo Noha Bakr believes that despite the mixed position of the US, Trump is working to end the dispute to protect its interests, such as its biggest military base in Doha, and its role in operations against the Islamic State group (IS), Qatari investments in the US, in addition to a general keenness on security and stability in the Gulf region. "Meanwhile, the countries boycotting Qatar have need the resumption of relations, not only for economic reasons, but also to keeping the political balances in the region amid the rising of regional powers such as Turkey and Iran," Bakr told the Daily News Egypt. However, Bakr argued that Qatar continues to escalate the situation despite efforts by the boycotting states to ease tensions. According to Samir, the US continues to present itself as an ally for all parties to maximise its benefits.
