Qatari emir in Washington for high-level talks, set to meet Trump on Tuesday

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani — whose kingdom hosts Washington’s biggest military base in the Persian Gulf region — is paying an official visit to the US for high-level talks with Pentagon and White House officials.

Sheikh Tamim held a meeting on Monday with acting Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper at the Pentagon.

“The United States relationship with Qatar is stronger than ever,” Esper said.

Esper further thanked the Qatari emir for his support to American service members stationed in the country, describing Washington’s al-Udeid as a strategic installation in the Persian Gulf state.

“Qatar’s long-standing willingness to host United States forces is emblematic of the close ties between our two countries,” he said.

He said that Washington-Doha relationship must remain resilient in the face of the evolving threats in the region, appreciating “Qatar’s willingness to support our initiative to increase maritime domestic domain awareness in the Gulf.”

The Qatari leader, for his part, said “by working together, we can find the ways and right means to de-escalate the tension we have in our region.”

Trump welcomed the Qatari emir at dinner hosted by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday.

Trump said working meetings with the monarch, scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, would encompass issues “from defense to purchases and trade, and I know everything’s going to be very positive.”

The dinner, however, sparked a controversy after Trump disinvited UK ambassador Kim Darroch amid a row over recent leaks of diplomatic messages lambasting the Trump administration as “clumsy” and “inept.”

Over the past three years, Darroch has been firing off memos to Downing Street insulting Trump as “inept,’’ “incompetent’’ and “insecure.’”

“We don't really believe this Administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept,” he wrote in one of the most sensitive documents.

The confidential internal memos were published by Britain’s Daily Mail on Sunday, annoying Trump and embarrassing London.

Trump took aim at Darroch on Sunday, saying the ambassador had “not served the UK well.”

“We’ve had our little ins and outs with a couple of countries, and I would say that the UK and the ambassador has not served the UK well, I can tell you that,” Trump told reporters when asked about Darroch’s comments. 

Trump on Monday intensified his criticism of the British envoy, saying in a series of tweets that “ we will no longer deal with him.”

“I do not know the Ambassador, but he is not liked or well thought of within the U.S.,” Trump tweeted. “We will no longer deal with him.”

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