World War 3 THREAT: Qatar situation is MORE DANGEROUS than North Korea, warns Bannon
Steve Bannon claimed Qatar is the single most important thing happening in the world and people should be paying a great deal of attention to it.
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The Saudi-Arabia led isolation of Qatar is the most worrying confrontation in the world at the moment, the former strategist added.
The US is currently backing moves by the Saudis to punish Qatar for allegedly funding the Muslim Brotherhood and other “radical Islamic terrorism”.
Bannon said at the Hudson Institute yesterday: “I think the single most important thing that’s happening in the world is the situation in Qatar,” Bannon said. “What’s happening in Qatar is every bit as important as what’s happening in North Korea.”
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt imposed an unprecedented land, sea and air blockade on their rich Gulf neighbour on June 5.
Bannon said Trump’s visit to Riyadh sparked the blockade implemented by Saudi Arabia.
“I don’t think it was just by happenstance that two weeks after the summit that we saw the blockade by the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and Egypt and the king of Saudi Arabia on Qatar,” he said.
Qatar threat: Steven Bannon warned of the situation in QatarQatar has rejected accusations that it supports extremists groups and signed a counter terrorism agreement with the US last month.
Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has said that the countries behind the blockade have not yet provided evidence to back up accusations that Qatar supports terrorism.
He warned that the blockade is harming global efforts against the Islamic State (IS) group.
He said: “We have seen continuing escalation and attempt to market the accusation that Qatar supports terrorism without providing any evidence.
“Unfortunately, this is their constant behaviour since the beginning of the crisis."
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has tried to protect US interests by rowing back on Donald Trump’s apparent support for the boycott early on although the Trump administration has sent conflicting messages about the crisis in the Gulf.
After Saudi Arabia and its allies announced the boycott, Trump sent a tweet supporting the blockade and he later accused Doha of supporting terrorism "at a very high level".
Foreign Affairs Minister of Qatar Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al ThaniBut his accusations came in parallel to the Pentagon and US secretary of state cautioning against the siege and praised Qatar’s role in the region. Qatar is home to the region’s biggest US military base. In July, Washington and Doha signed an agreement to combat terrorism financing.
The comments come as Rex Tillerson spent the weekend visiting Qatar to improve relations. He claimed Saudi Arabia is still not willing to begin direct talks to resolve the Gulf diplomatic crisis.
His Qatari counterpart expressed frustration over the behaviour of the four countries blockading Qatar.
In a joint news conference with Mohammed bin Abdulrahman in Qatar's capital, Doha, Tillerson said he is not hopeful Saudi Arabia is willing to enter discussions to resolve the crisis.
"In my meetings with [Saudi] Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, I asked him to please engage in dialogue, [but] there is not a strong indication that parties are ready to talk yet," said Tillerson, referring to his earlier discussions in Riyadh.
