In first official contact, HH The Emir Sheikh Tamim speaks to the Saudi crown prince

In the first sign of official contact between Qatar and Saudi Arabia since the illegal siege began on June 5, HH The Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held a telephonic conversation with Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud yesterday, reported Al Jazeera.

The call between the two leaders was the first official contact between Doha and Riyadh since the crisis began more than three months ago.

State media in the two countries reported that the two leaders expressed a willingness to discuss an end to the rift.

The phone call came just a day after Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah held a meeting with American president Donald Trump at Washington DC. Trump had said he was willing to negotiate and solve the Gulf crisis.

Trump later called HH The Emir Sheikh Tamim and discussed the latest developments related to the Gulf crisis.

Following that, a telephone conversation was held between the leaders of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, based on co-ordination of the US president, according to Gulf Times, which quoted Qatar News Agency.

However, Saudi Arabia seems to have taken exception to the report citing a dispute over protocol, reported Al Jazeera. 

The site reported that Saudi Arabia’s planned talks with Qatar have been suspended, citing QNA’s apparent failure to mention that it was Doha that had initiated the call.

During the phone call, Sheikh Tamim had welcomed a proposal by the Saudi crown prince to assign two envoys to resolve the dispute ‘in a way that does not affect the sovereignty of states.’

Saudi state news agency SPA had initially issued a statement confirming Friday's phone conversation, saying that Sheikh Tamim had called Mohammed bin Salman and ‘expressed his desire’ to discuss the demands of the four blockading countries. 

“The details will be announced later after the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia concludes an understanding with the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Arab Republic of Egypt,” it added. 

But SPA later issued a second statement, citing an unnamed official at the ministry of the foreign affairs as saying that what QNA had published earlier in its report about the phone call was a ‘distortion of ... facts.’

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announces the suspension of any dialogue or communication with the authority in Qatar until a clear statement is issued clarifying its position in public,” the second statement added.