Mixed Messages from US over Easing of Blockade on Qatar

Five days after a raft of measures were imposed by Saudi Arabia and several other Middle East nations on Qatar, some international mediators are weighing in to prevent tensions escalating further.

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On Thursday, Germany called for the sea and air blockades to be lifted.

And now, Rex Tillerson the U.S. Secretary of State, says the restrictions are having humanitarian consequences.

But Tillerson also insisted more needs to be done by Doha to limit the funding of militant groups.

He told reporters at the State Department that the crisis, which has cut transportation links and trade, had begun to hurt ordinary people in Qatar, impaired business dealings and harmed the U.S. battle against the Islamic State group.

Qatar denies financing rebel militias and has hit back at the measures, with the nation's Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani labelling them a "violation of international law".

In contrast to Tillerson's approach, the U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday, "The nation of Qatar unfortunately has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level".

Trump went on to say "We had a decision to make, do we take the easy road or do we finally take a hard but necessary action. We have to stop the funding of terrorism. I decided ... the time had come to call on Qatar to end its funding."

Doha has vowed to ride out the isolation imposed on it by fellow Arab states and said it would not compromise its sovereignty over foreign policy to resolve the region's biggest diplomatic crisis in years.