Diplomatic blockade of Qatar, which was initiated by four Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt has entered into its second month as the Gulf nations indicated that the blockade would continue since Qatar has refused to give into a 13-point demands list presented by the Gulf countries via Kuwait, which is mediating in the crisis.

While President Trump’s tweeter feeds have suggested that he is siding with the Saudi-led group, a senior official and advisor to the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson suggest that many of the demands presented to Qatar are unrealistic. Last month, the countries put out a 13-point list of demands for Doha, insisting that, among other things, their Persian Gulf neighbor shutter the Al Jazeera news channel, cut back diplomatic ties with Iran and close down a Turkish military base in Qatar. They also demanded that Qatar severs its alleged ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group (IS, formerly known as ISIL/ISIS). Qatar denied any funding or support for extremist groups or terrorist organization and rejected the demand by calling it an attack on Qatar’s sovereignty. Qatar’s foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said, “Reading between the lines, the blockading countries [are] demanding that we have to surrender our sovereignty to end the siege, something which... Qatar will never do”.

US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson have traveled to the Gulf region this week and there, he would be spending most of the week talking to the leaders of various countries in his bid to mediate in the crisis. He has met with very senior figures of Kuwait on Monday.