Two months into the illegal siege of Qatar by neighbouring Gulf countries, the USA is stepping up efforts to initiate talks between the countries and solve the Gulf crisis.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who toured the Gulf in an attempt to solve the crisis earlier last month, has now assigned two senior envoys to work on a breakthrough in the stalemate.

The two envoys — US deputy assistant secretary of state for Gulf affairs Timothy Lenderking and retired US Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni — will meet with various players in the ever-deepening crisis, reported Gulf Times.

The Gulf crisis, which began on June 5, had seen Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE cut all ties with Qatar and block the air, sea and land routes to and from the country. 

The two US envoys arrived in Kuwait on Monday and will soon embark on a shuttle diplomacy tour of the Gulf states to help resolve the diplomatic crisis, reported Qatar Tribune.

It is understood that Lenderking and Zinni will travel from Kuwait to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, before heading to Qatar.
Hours before their arrival, Emir of Kuwait HH Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah dispatched messengers with handwritten letters for the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Qatar had resulted in the signing of a landmark agreement between the two nations to combat terrorism and cut its funding.

“Zinni’s presence would help maintain a constant pressure on the ground, because I think that’s what it’s going to take. There’s only so much you can do with telephone persuasion. But we’re committed to see this disagreement resolved, restore Gulf unity, because we think it’s important to the long-term effort to defeat terrorism in the region,” Tillerson had said last week.

Zinni served as commander of US Central Command, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East.