Tillerson’s only official meeting on Saturday was a working dinner with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir. He was stopping in Saudi Arabia on the first leg of a six-day trip that will also take him to Qatar, Pakistan, India and Switzerland. His talks in Sunni Muslim-ruled Saudi Arabia and in Qatar were expected to be dominated by the topic of Shi'ite-dominated Iran's growing regional influence. In an interview on Thursday with Bloomberg, Tillerson blamed Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt for the lack of progress toward ending the four-month-old crisis. Saudi Arabia and its allies have accused Qatar of supporting hardline Islamist groups and cosying up to Iran at the region's expense.

Source: bd News24 October 21, 2017 15:00 UTC