U.S. Signs Agreement with Qatar on Terror Financing amid Gulf Crisis

The U.S. and Qatar signed an agreement Tuesday to crack down on the financing of terrorism. The agreement was signed as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson looks to resolve a crisis in the Persian Gulf between Qatar and Saudi Arabia and its allies.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Washington and Doha agreed to step up efforts to track down where terrorists are being funded and increase efforts to work together to share information.

Tillerson told reporters in Doha that the deal will work to “interrupt and disable terror financing flows and intensify counterterrorism activities globally.”

While both sides say that the deal isn’t related to the crisis in the Gulf, it is sure to send a signal from Qatar that the country is serious about tackling terrorism.

Saudi Arabia, the United Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt have severed ties with Qatar and imposed a travel ban over its alleged funding of terrorism and its links with Iran. The anti-Qatar countries have made a list of demands to end the crisis, including ending ties with Iran and closing down news network Al Jazeera.

“The blockading countries have accused Qatar of financing terrorism, now the state of Qatar is the first country to sign this memorandum of understanding with the United States. We invite the other blockading countries to join,” Qatar Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said after the meeting.

Tillerson is due to meet with leaders of other countries involved in the crisis and will travel to Saudi Arabia as part of his trip to the region where he will meet with leaders of the four anti-Qatar nations.

President Trump has taken a hard line on Qatar in past statements and has seemed to side with the Saudi-aligned countries in calling for Qatar to stop funding terrorism.

Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY.