JEDDAH: “Qataris’ behavior has got to change,” seasoned US Sen. John McCain said Tuesday during a discussion at the Wall Street Journal CFO Network annual meeting in Washington.
“We can’t have Qataris funding Salafist organizations that are committing crimes to take American lives,” he said. “We just have certain fundamentals that are what America and democracy are all about.”
McCain, who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, added: “Now guess who’s sending in groceries? The Iranians.”
He urged US President Donald Trump to send Defense Secretary James Mattis to Doha “right away” so “he sorts this out,” adding: “He has been in the region for a long time, he knows these people.”
McCain said “smart people wherever I’ve gone” have said they have not seen such a split in the Gulf before.
“One thing I can assure of, there’s more to come on what the Qataris have been doing to provoke action of this magnitude,” he said. “They’ve been trying to play both ends against the middle.”
McCain said the situation in the Gulf is dangerous and the Trump administration should act. “The one thing we need is some consistency from this administration, which they don’t have as we speak.”
