Saudi Arabia Hints at Ending Rift with Qatar on One Condition

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan hinted that progress may be underway toward resolving the three-year-old rift between the four Arab countries (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Bahrain) and Qatar.

This came after a meeting in Washington with U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, according to "Bloomberg".

"We continue to be willing to engage with our Qatari brothers, and we hope that they are as committed to that engagement," Bin Farhan said in a virtual discussion hosted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on Thursday.

"But we do need to address the legitimate security concerns of the quartet, and I think there is a path toward that" with a solution "in the relatively near future."

It is worth mentioning that, the rift in relations started in June 2017, when Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., Bahrain and Egypt cut their diplomatic, trade and transport ties with Qatar, saying its government supported militant groups and had meddled in their internal affairs for years.