WHITE HOUSE — President Donald Trump has jumped head first into the diplomatic spat between Qatar and major Arab nations over Doha’s alleged support of Iran and Islamist militant groups sponsoring terrorism in the region.

In a series of three Twitter posts Tuesday, the president seemed to take credit for the Saudi-led move to isolate Qatar both diplomatically and economically.

Referring to his speech in Riyadh last month, in which he called on Muslim leaders to take a stand against radical Islamist groups, he tweeted: “During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar – look!”

“During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar – look!”

He followed that with two tweets that formed one message:

“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!”

During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar – look!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017

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…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017

…extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017

Long brewing tensions in the region escalated this week when Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain recalled their ambassadors from Qatar and closed all land, sea and air borders. Several other countries followed suit. They cited Qatar’s relations with Iran and its alleged support for groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and al-Qaida.

The sanctions hit hard in Qatar, a peninsular country of 2.4 million people that imports almost 100 percent of its food.

The Doha government charged that the crisis is being fueled by “absolute fabrications” and is a “violation of its sovereignty.”

Source: VOA [xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]

  arab, conflict, middle east, qatar, Terror, tweet, twitter, world