Saudi Arabia and its allies are expected to sign a deal on Tuesday officially ending their feud with Qatar in an agreement negotiated by senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, a government official confirmed Monday.
The detente – intended to further isolate Iran – follows a slew of historic Middle East peace deals staged by Trump’s White House in recent months, normalizing relations between Israel and some of its Arab neighbors .
Tuesday’s deal will set in motion the end of a four-year-old blockade of Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain, which in 2017 accused Qatar leaders of supporting terrorism and joining Iran.
Kushner helped secure the deal in recent weeks and flew to Saudi Arabia on Monday to witness the signing at the Gulf Cooperation Council meeting, the official said.
Under the agreement, Saudi Arabia will open its airspace to Qatari aircraft on the condition that Qatar Airways files a $ 5 billion lawsuit against the four countries seeking damages for the blockade.
The United States’ largest military base in the region is in Qatar, where it is capable of conducting air strikes against the Islamic State and the Taliban, making Washington a victim of the blockade.
Qatar was forced to reroute its air traffic over Iran, strengthening Tehran, which earned additional revenue by leasing its airspace to Qatar, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
The oil-rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its allies launched a diplomatic siege against the smaller Arab kingdom in June 2017, issuing a list of 17 demands, including closing the Al Jazeera news network and deteriorating relations with Turkey and Iran.
Kushner, 39, has developed a close relationship with the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, 35, and visited Riyadh in November in an attempt to end the blockade.