In what may be the most bizarre news of the day, Bloomberg reports that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were "close to taking military action in the early stages of their ongoing dispute with Qatar", until Donald Trump called the leaders of both countries and warned them to back off; in other words, Trump's intervention prevented yet another gulf war, which if true will make the U.S. Millitary-Industrial complex very unhappy as Trump's peace effort likely cost US offense defense companies tens of billions in lost profits.
As Bloomberg writes, confirming reports from early June that Saudi Arabia and Qatar were inches away from war leading to the mobilization of Qatar's army, Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., which both have a penchant for using their brand new weapons purchases from the US in the most practical of ways, were looking at ways to remove the Qatari regime, which they accused of sponsoring terrorism and cozying up to Iran. However, Trump told Saudi and U.A.E. leaders that any military action would trigger a crisis across the Middle East that would only benefit the Iranians.
It wasn’t clear when the conversations took place. The Saudis, backed by the U.A.E. and two other regional allies, broke off diplomatic ties with Qatar in early June, imposed an economic embargo and cut transport links. They’ve since issued multiple demands, including the closure of Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera, that haven’t been met. Qatar denies all the accusations and accuses the Saudis of seeking to dominate smaller neighbors.
Of course, Saudi Arabia denied that military action was ever considered". The allegations are entirely incorrect, have already been denied, and amount to nothing more than typically misleading Qatari propaganda", said a Saudi official source familiar with the matter. At least they didn't blame Russia.
Separately, Emirati officials have said in the past that the dispute can only be resolved by political, not military, means.
Still, despite avoiding war, the standoff has yet to be resolved, despite efforts by Kuwait to mediate. Trump made a push to settle it this month, after talks in Washington with Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah. He failed.
The U.S. president made a flurry of calls with Gulf leaders, saying the dispute was distracting U.S. allies from forging a united front against Iran.
Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, told the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday that the blockade amounted to a “betrayal” by the Saudis and their allies. He said his country is open to dialogue, but won’t be dictated to.
Outlining his mediation efforts at a press conference with Trump, Sheikh Sabah said: “Thank God, what’s important is that we stopped any military thing.” The Saudi-led coalition responded with a statement saying that a “military solution was never and will never be on the table.”
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters during his meeting with the Qatari Emir this afternoon near the UN, Trump denied everything and according to Bloomberg said he "didn't warn the Saudis on military action against Qatar." In other words, everyone denied the story which is all we needed to hear. The question is if tensions between the gulf neighbors pick up again to the point of military intervention, will Trump succeed again.