The severance of diplomatic relations with Qatar from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen and Libya is a natural result of the longstanding confrontation between regional elites. The tone of the conflict is set by the Saudis, and it is far from the first and not the last, Russian analysts believe..

The first to break was the island Kingdom of Bahrain, accusing Doha of "rocking" the situation inside the country and supporting terrorists. Qatari diplomats were asked to leave the Kingdom, suspended air and sea communications with Doha and forbade Qataris to visit Bahrain.

A few minutes after Bahrain's statement on similar measures was announced in Riyadh, Cairo and Abu Dhabi. Later, "flash mob" supported the governments of Yemen, Libya and Egypt. The latter severed diplomatic relations with Qatar "because of the continuing by the Qatari authorities hostile behavior towards Egypt".

The UAE accused Doha of supporting and financing "terrorist, extremist and sectarian groups led by the Muslim Brotherhood", and the command of the Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia announced the cessation of Qatar's participation in the military operation in Yemen "because of the support of Doha's illegal Groupings, Al-Qaeda and IG, reports RIA Novosti..

The scandal between Qatar and its neighbors erupted a week after the Gulf and US summit in Riyadh, when the Qatari news agency posted a speech on behalf of the country's emir in support of building relations with Iran. Given that Tehran was recognized by the participants of the summit as almost the world's "evil" number one, such a move by Qatar did look quite unexpected. The authorities of Qatar immediately announced that the site of the agency was hacked, and speech on behalf of the emir was published by hackers, but neither the Saudis nor the UAE nor Bahrain in this version believed it and insist that the words about the normalization of relations with Tehran really belong to the emir.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, commenting on the decision of the Arab States to break diplomatic relations with Qatar, called on the parties to "sit together at the negotiating table and eliminate differences". Washington is ready to help preserve the unity of the Council of Cooperation of the Arab States of the Persian Gulf, he stressed..

Zabo. Sector Policy Theory IMEMO RAS, Eduard Solovyov believes that attempts to accuse Qatar of the fact that he "turned" to Iran, are pulled by the ears - this was not planned. In fact, the reasons for the current conflict are that Qatar has previously allowed itself some liberties without looking back at the Saudis, and is now pursuing the same line.

Saudi Arabia already broke off relations with Qatar several years ago, but the "storm in the glass" quickly settled down, recalls the analyst. "The problem for the Saudis is that Qatar, one of the richest countries in the Persian Gulf, is pursuing an absolutely independent policy that terribly irritates the Saudis. The surge of this irritation is observed today. At hand, the emir of Qatar - really huge financial resources: the last representatives of the Al Thani dynasty began to use them more actively not only for investments in the West or elsewhere, but also tried to convert them into additional influence in the region, but the influence is independent. On this basis, they have not the first (and, I think, not the last) time there are conflict situations with the Saudis. Besides, being self-sufficient, Qatar sometimes supports those factions that Saudi Arabia at the moment for some reason does not support, "said the expert" Utru ".

In particular, Qatar helped the "Muslim Brotherhood", including in Egypt, and on this basis already had divergent views with Riyadh. Different groups support the two states in Libya and Syria. Both Qatar and Saudi Arabia finance anti-Asad forces, but each country has its own "clientele". Periodically arising friction made the current conflict predictable.

"Since Saudi Arabia is still the leading regional player, the remaining Arab countries of the Persian Gulf and Egypt joined them, in all likelihood, followed in the wake of Riyadh, and Qatar was left one on one with angry Arab elites," the expert notes..

It is not necessary to write off from the accounts and additional regional contradictions in the Persian Gulf, and various closest allies of both states. In recent years Qatar closely cooperates at the political level with Turkey, with the Qatari circles financially linked by the French elite (while the Saudis are more "tied" to the Americans). "But the contradictions between the external players - the French and Americans - I would not be looking for here: it seems to me that the reasons are precisely the independence of the behavior of the Qatari dynasty in relation to the Saudi," the analyst notes..

There should not be any special shocks from the current confrontation: for some time the conflict will be unraveling, but it will not reach serious consequences, the expert predicts. Including, and because Americans are present in both countries and simply will not let the diplomatic war grow into a real one. After all, the Americans have the largest military base in the region in Qatar. "Undoubtedly, the US will be a deterrent in this situation - they are, first of all, interested in this, considering the" Middle East NATO "project, which they actively promoted during Trump's visit.

The project, in my opinion, is not entirely realistic, but nevertheless. So the US will try to alleviate these contradictions, although Qatar will continue to pursue its line, because it has a lot of money and additional opportunities (tools of soft power, first of all, Al Jazeera). Qatar is a very influential country, disproportionate to its scale on the world map. After a while, the United States will begin to reconcile Qatar with its neighbors, and solemn reconciliation will take place, "- concluded the interlocutor" Utra ".