U.S. Push to Pry Open Gulf Airspace for Qatar Hits Resistance - Bloomberg:
Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies are resisting a U.S. push to open their airspace to Qatar and end the natural-gas powerhouse’s heavy reliance on Iran’s skies, according to officials familiar with the contacts.
They figure they stand a better chance of extracting bigger concessions from Qatar, which they’ve been boycotting for nearly three years, the closer it gets to hosting the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament, according to one official familiar with the matter. Like three others, the official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential conversations.
Washington, the people said, intensified its efforts to mend the Gulf rift after last year’s attacks on energy interests in the Persian Gulf, which briefly disrupted Saudi oil production and raised the threat of open conflict between the U.S. and Iran. Opening airspace has been a key point on the agenda of regular meetings between U.S. and Saudi officials in Washington and the Gulf, even as broader reconciliation overtures between Arab countries have stalled.
Qatar has depended on Iranian skies at great cost ever since Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and trade ties in June 2017, forcing it to cut some flights and reroute others. Washington sees airspace as a possible way to begin a broader detente, the officials said, though it’s not clear whether this would mean restarting direct flights to Doha or simply allowing flyovers.
Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies are resisting a U.S. push to open their airspace to Qatar and end the natural-gas powerhouse’s heavy reliance on Iran’s skies, according to officials familiar with the contacts.
They figure they stand a better chance of extracting bigger concessions from Qatar, which they’ve been boycotting for nearly three years, the closer it gets to hosting the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament, according to one official familiar with the matter. Like three others, the official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential conversations.
Washington, the people said, intensified its efforts to mend the Gulf rift after last year’s attacks on energy interests in the Persian Gulf, which briefly disrupted Saudi oil production and raised the threat of open conflict between the U.S. and Iran. Opening airspace has been a key point on the agenda of regular meetings between U.S. and Saudi officials in Washington and the Gulf, even as broader reconciliation overtures between Arab countries have stalled.
Qatar has depended on Iranian skies at great cost ever since Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and trade ties in June 2017, forcing it to cut some flights and reroute others. Washington sees airspace as a possible way to begin a broader detente, the officials said, though it’s not clear whether this would mean restarting direct flights to Doha or simply allowing flyovers.
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