The United States agreed a major warplane sale to Qatar and began manoeuvres with the emirate's navy today, underscoring its commitment to their military alliance despite Doha's rift with other Gulf allies.
Washington has sent conflicting signals to its longtime ally about its position on the diplomatic crisis which has seen Saudi Arabia and its allies impose sweeping sanctions on the emirate.
Last week, US President Donald Trump expressed support for the Saudi-led allegations against Qatar, charging that it had "historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level". But Pentagon and State Department officials have since scrambled to reassure the emirate, which houses the largest US airbase in the Middle East and the command headquarters for US military operations in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis welcomed his Qatari counterpart Khalid al-Attiyah to Washington yesterday for the signing of the agreement for the sale of F-15 fighters.
"The USD 12-billion sale will give Qatar a state-of-the- art capability and increase security cooperation and interoperability between the United States and Qatar," the
Pentagon said.