Qatar and Saudi Arabia and its allies are expected to sign a deal on Tuesday designed to end a protracted feud that has split the Middle East and hampered U.S. efforts to isolate Iran, senior Trump administration officials said on Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported. Under the deal, the U.S. officials said, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt are expected to officially end a blockade of Qatar they began in June 2017 when the countries accused Qatar’s leaders of supporting terrorism and aligning itself with Iran. On Monday, Kuwait, which has served as a mediator in the dispute, announced that Saudi Arabia would officially reopen its airspace to Qatari planes for the first time since 2017. U.S. and Saudi officials said they had secured a compromise that will allow Qatar to again fly planes over the Gulf nation in exchange for Qatar Airways dropping a series of legal challenges against the four nations that sought $5 billion in compensation for the airspace bans. Read more. (Subscription required.)
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