Qatar got a lifeline of sorts amid an international diplomatic crisis after the U.S. signed an agreement to sell the country $12 billion worth of F-15 Eagle fighter jets.
The deal comes just days after President Donald Trump seemed to position the United States firmly with a coterie of countries seeking to isolate Qatar as punishment for alleged support of groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda.
Speaking during a news conference on June 9, Trump had said Qatar “has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level.”
At the Arab-Islamic-American summit that Trump attended with more than 50 Arab and Muslim leaders in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Trump faced what he later described as a united call to push Qatar on its errant behavior.
“I decided, along with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, our great generals and military people, the time had come to call on Qatar to end its funding—they have to end that funding—and its extremist ideology in terms of funding.”
