US moves to defuse row

Qatar and the United States yesterday signed a deal on combatting "terrorism" as visiting US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson pursued efforts to resolve the Gulf diplomatic crisis.

In Qatar as part of a series of Gulf meetings, Tillerson also said Doha had been "reasonable" in the dispute, which has seen Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties with the emirate over accusations it supports extremism.

Tillerson is spending much of this week in the Gulf seeking to mediate in the rift among crucial US allies, and will meet foreign ministers of the four countries isolating Qatar in the Saudi city of Jeddah today.

After talks with senior officials in Doha yesterday, Tillerson and Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani announced the deal targeting extremist financing.

"The memorandum lays out a series of steps the two countries will take over the coming months and years to interrupt and disable terror financing flows and intensify counter-terrorism activities globally," Tillerson said at a joint press conference.

He said the deal meant Qatar was "the first to respond" to US President Donald Trump's call at a summit in Riyadh earlier this year "to stop the funding of terrorism" -- suggesting that such deals could be signed with the other Arab states as a step towards ending the crisis.

Tillerson flew back to Kuwait -- the main mediator in the crisis and where he is based this week -- after the talks in Qatar.

The four countries on June 5 announced sanctions against Qatar over accusations Doha supported Islamist extremism and was too close to Iran. They severed all diplomatic ties, suspended transport links with Doha and ordered all Qataris to return home within 14 days.

On June 22, the Saudi-led bloc issued a list of 13 demands which, if met, would end the sanctions, including closing Al-Jazeera, downgrading ties to Iran. Qatar refused to comply.