Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah speaks during last October's meeting of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) summit in Bangkok. According to a joint statement on Saudi state news agency SPA, the four countries agreed to a request by Kuwait to extend by 48 hours Sunday's deadline for compliance. Mediation efforts, including by the United States, have been fruitless. The crisis has hit travel, food imports and sown confusion among businesses, while pushing Qatar closer to Iran and Turkey. URGING RESTRAINTA State Department official said on Sunday that the United States encouraged "all parties to exercise restraint to allow for productive diplomatic discussions".

Source: Bangkok Post July 03, 2017 14:15 UTC