WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has chided Qatar for funding terrorism and backing extremist ideology and thus trumped his own secretary of state who, hours before this public rebuke, had urged other Arab nations to end their blockade.

“The nation of Qatar has unfortunately been a funder of terrorism, and at a very high level,” Mr Trump said during a Friday afternoon news conference at the White House.

The US president also said at this joint press availability with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis that he consulted senior members of his cabinet and American generals before making these remarks.

“I’ve decided, along with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, our great generals, and military people, the time has come to call on Qatar to end its funding,” he said. “They have to end that funding and its extremist ideology in terms of funding.”

Mr Trump’s comments closely followed Secretary Tillerson called for all sides to de-escalate the conflict, and for other Arab nations to end a blockade against Qatar. Secretary Tillerson was at the news conference when Mr. Trump made these remarks.

Mr Trump said that this warning was not just for Qatar but all those nations who were funding terrorism or allowing this hateful ideology to spread.

“I want all of the nations to stop immediately supporting terrorism. Stop teaching people to kill other people and filling their minds with hate and intolerance,” he said.

On Monday Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain severed diplomatic relations with Qatar and closed all land, sea and air borders.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2017