Member states of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf

State-owned Qatar Petroleum announced on March 13 it has signed a deal with Abu Dhabi to operate the shared Al-Bunduq offshore oil field, despite a bitter diplomatic rift.

Authorities in Qatar have denied that Qatari fighter jets intercepted two Emirati aircraft after the United Arab Emirates said that its civilian jets were accompanied by warplanes./ Aljazeera

Qatar's foreign ministry released a statement on Monday saying the claim was false. 

Months into a dispute that has seen Doha cut off from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Qatar's emir said Nov. 174 his country was "a thousand times better off" without them.

A Saudi-led bloc of countries hostile to Qatar on Sept. 8 challenged statements by the Kuwaiti emir, denying his mediation has seen progress in finding a solution to the Gulf dispute.

Saudi Arabia as well as the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain cut ties with Qatar in June, accusing it of bankrolling Islamist extremist groups.

Illustration

Amid diplomatic crisis between Qatar and a rival Saudi-led bloc in West Asia, North Korea has reportedly struck a USD 100 million arms deal with a company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The Gulf countries imposing blockades on Qatar are the biggest losers in the recent crisis in terms of trade, Qatar's Economy Minister Jassim al-Thani has said, noting that the impact of the crisis on the Qatari economy was very small. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan finalized yesterday ar two-day tour to Gulf countries in Doha, his last destition, on July 24, aimed at defusing a dispute between Qatar and neighbouring Arab states.

Erdoğan was greeted by Qatari ruler Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani in Doha ahead of their first face-to-face talks on the Gulf crisis.  

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was behind a series of hacks that sparked regional discord and isolated Qatar from its neighbors, according to a media report Sunday, quoted by Anadolu Agency. 

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian held talks with top officials in Kuwait on July 16 in a bid to bolster the emirate's attempts to mediate in the Gulf crisis.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu has met with the diplomatic envoys of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates in Ankara as part of efforts to solve an ongoing crisis between the Gulf States and Qatar.