AGENCY
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday his trip to the Middle East was “already paying off” as regional leaders followed through on their promise to take a hard line on funding militant groups.
“So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off. They said they would take a hard line on funding extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!” Trump said in a series of Twitter posts.
Trump said the leaders he met on a Middle East trip had warned him that Qatar was funding “radical ideology” after he had demanded they take action to stop financing militant groups. The comments on Twitter – Trump’s first about the rift between Qatar and major Arab nations over alleged support of Iran and Islamist groups – came as the leader of Kuwait was to meet in Saudi Arabia to try to mediate the dispute. Qatar vehemently denies the accusations against it, calling them baseless. Ordinary Qataris, however, were to be found crowding into supermarkets to stock up on goods against the crisis.
