WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump on Tuesday appeared to be taking credit for spurring Saudi Arabia and four other Arab nations to break off diplomatic and economic ties with neighboring Qatar _ a development that creates complications for U.S. policy.
"So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off," Trump boasted in a morning tweet. "Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism."
Trump suggested that during his visit to Riyadh, the Saudi capital, last month, when King Salman lavished praise and hospitality on him, many of the Gulf Arab nations in attendance pointed to Qatar as a main financier of terrorism.
Qatar has long been one of the United States' closest Gulf allies, and is host to the massive army and Air Force bases that form the bedrock of U.S. military action in that part of the Middle East.
"They said they would take a hard line on funding extremism," Trump tweeted, "and all reference was pointing to Qatar."
The tweets left State Department officials struggling to explain what role the U.S. played in the diplomatic break, the most serious escalation of tensions in the Gulf in years.
"We recognize that Qatar has made great efforts to stop the financing of terrorism," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. "But they still have a lot of work to do."
The United States was informed of the action by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Yemen only shortly before it was announced, she acknowledged.
Qatar has done business in the past with Saudi Arabia's archenemy Iran and tolerated some militant Islamist groups. It is also the base for the Al-Jazeera television network, respected in much of the Arab world.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, said operations at the Al Udeid Air Base, 20 miles southwest of the Qatari capital of Doha, were not affected. The base is home to 10,000 U.S. troops and serves as the command and control site for many of the U.S. actions against the Islamic State.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, traveling in Australia and New Zealand, sought to downplay the rift, saying the U.S. government would be willing to work to mend ties.
Asked if Trump's tweets are good for U.S. foreign policy, Nauert quoted Tillerson, who said Trump had his "own unique way" of communicating and that it seemed to serve him "well."
