Qatar is facing an existential crisis and a possible outbreak of war in the Gulf after several Arab countries had severed relations. Earlier in June, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain cut ties with Qatar imposing a diplomatic and trade embargo with the tiny Arab Emirate; Qatar responded to fears of military intervention from its neighbors by reaffirming joint military exercises with Turkey. Iran may also look to strategically benefit from the Gulf fall-out, although any Iranian military presence in the Gulf would be unlikely, though it has delivered food supplies to Qatar. While Iran might look to benefit from the Gulf fall-out, an Iranian military presence in the Gulf is unlikely. As Ankara and Doha are closely aligned on several diplomatic and economic fronts, neither classify the Muslim Brotherhood or Hamas as “terrorist organizations”. Background of the Crisis It all started when Qatar’s official news agency published remarks attributed to the country’s Emir Sheikh Tamim criticizing renewed tensions over Iran, and describing Qatar’s relations with Israel as “good”. Shortly, Qatar said that the news agency had been hacked and a “false statement” had been published which appeared to…
