On the 5th of June, 2017, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and the Maldives completely
and abruptly severed all formal relations with Qatar.
Borders were closed, Qatar Airways flights had to be rerouted, ports were ordered not
to receive Qatari ships, banks were advised not to do business with Qatari nationals or
in Qatari riyals, and Qataris visiting or living in other Gulf states were given two
weeks notice to get out.
Qatar was effectively being blockaded, and would continue to be until January, 2021.
So why did this all happen, and how did Qatar deal with being blockaded for almost four
years?
[Intro]
Qatar is a rich Persian Gulf monarchy with an outstretched role on the world stage, whose
largest city is now (in part thanks to oil money) dominated by futuristic skyscrapers,
having virtually sprung out of nowhere over the past few decades… uh okay I realize
how little that narrows it down, but the important thing to know about this emirate of 2 million
is how it plays on the international stage.
What might make this four-year blockade seem even more strange at first is how Qatar, along
with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates (with the further addition of
Kuwait and Oman) are all part of an organization known as the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The GCC is a political and economic union between these six Persian Gulf countries,
featuring a customs union, a common market, a joint military force, and even freedom of
movement among citizens.
Disputes between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors however first started to bubble long before
the crisis broke out.
Under the rule of Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Qatar sought to wiggle itself out from under
Saudi Arabia’s direct influence.
Sheikh Hamad did this in many different ways, not least of which involving their establishment
of relations with the two I countries you do not mention around Saudi Arabia: Israel
and Iran.
The South Pars/North Dome field in the middle of the Persian Gulf, by far the largest natural
gas field in the world, is shared between Qatar and Iran.
Meanwhile, Qatar also hosts the Al Udeid Air Base, hosting the largest American presence
in the Middle East, and maintaining a close alliance with the United States to further
offset Saudi influence.
All this led to Saudi Arabia withdrawing their ambassador to Qatar from 2002 to 2008 in an
attempt to curb these actions, which worked about as well as you would expect trying to
make someone not do stuff you don’t like by simply not talking to them… poorly, I
mean, extremely poorly.
However, many countries around the world, including the United States itself, started
to accuse Qatar of supporting…
uh… specific groups of people with guns, including charities with ties to certain groups
across the region, and allowing these financiers to operate within their borders.
While Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani stated that Qatar does not fund these groups and
is committed to fighting the wife of Osiris long-term, the Arab Spring spawned a particular
power play between the Gulf nations, with the Qatari government supporting many of the
revolutionary groups across the region, and Saudi Arabia and co.…
well, not.
With tensions seemingly brewing, many feared that this, in the worst case scenario, could
even result in a military conflict within the Gulf.
With the Riyadh Summit in May, 2017, the then US President gave strong support for the Saudis
in their efforts fighting groups and countries allied with Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood,
the latter being one group Qatar has been accused of funding, and which many of their
fellow Gulf states view as an existential threat to their monarchies.
This support might have pushed many other Sunni governments in the region to take a
stance with the Saudis against Qatar, perhaps reminded of the ostracism a Gulf nation could
experience were they to defy Saudi Arabia.
The orb remembers all.
That very next month, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, and Bahrain, alongside Egypt, the Tobruk-based
government in Libya, and the Maldives (a close business partner of the UAE) all cut diplomatic
ties with Qatar and closed their borders to Qatari nationals.
Qatar was given a list of 13 demands to end the blockade, not least including shutting
down the controversial state-owned media corporation Al Jazeera, downscaling their relations with
Iran, shutting down a Turkish military base within their borders, and to no longer interfere
in other countries’ affairs (That’s our job!)
Kuwait and Oman however did not break ties, with the former trying to serve as a mediator
amid this dispute.
Saudi Arabia meanwhile, in what I can only describe as peak pettiness, even briefly had
the idea to dig a canal on their side of the border, effectively turning the peninsula
into an island (shoutout to Ticket to Know if you want to learn more about that plan).
Qatar refused to meet these demands, complaining that the blockade violated international law,
and established new trade routes through Turkey and Iran to meet their citizens’ basic needs.
Around 80% of their food came through their Gulf neighbors, mostly traveling across the
border with Saudi Arabia.
In the days after relations were cut, shipments of fruits and vegetables were delivered by
plane from Iran and to a lesser extent Turkey.
Nevertheless the emirate quickly turned to domestic food production, including importing
thousands of cows.
Airlines based in the countries embargoing Qatar– including the likes of Emirates,
Etihad, flydubai, Saudia, Air Arabia, and Gulf Air– all suspended their flights to
and from Qatar, and furthermore Qatar Airways was barred from entering these countries’
airspaces, Oman Airways played a large role in evacuating many of the 100,000 foreign
nationals unable to return home.
While Qatar Airways could no longer continue its flights to these other countries, they
did still continue their other routes to Europe and Africa…
just, over Iranian airspace instead.
As Qatar previously lacked any deepwater ports, roughly 85% of all sea cargo headed toward
the country went through Dubai’s Jebel Ali port, with cargo offloaded from larger ships
and transferred to smaller feeder ships heading toward Qatar.
With that very much not an option anymore, Maersk Line and the Swiss-owned MSC (yes,
I know, landlocked) switched their operations to the ports of Salalah and Sohar in Oman.
China’s COSCO and Hong Kong’s OOCL meanwhile suspended services to Qatar altogether, meanwhile
Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine got stuck in the Suez Canal…
no I’m kidding, they also suspended services.
Luckily, the country was able to open the deepwater Hamad port just three months into
the embargo.
With the situation seemingly going nowhere, things finally changed in January, 2021 in
the historic Saudi village of Al-’Ula, when Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, and Bahrain finally
lifted their embargo.
That previous month, 59% of Emiratis polled said they wanted an end to the blockade.
Experts seem to agree that the end of this embargo was largely motivated by the outcome
of the 2020 US Presidential election, with increasing pushes from the incumbent administration
to get everything sorted out.
In a cruel twist of irony, the embargo might have actually done more harm to Saudi Arabia,
the Emirates, and Bahrain, who lost access to a small yet profitable market.
While Qatar remains a GCC member, this doesn’t mean tensions have necessarily subsided, as
Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia all have significant Shia populations, and have accused
Iran of stoking sectarian tensions, meanwhile embargoing Qatar definitely does not seem
to have weakened their desire to continue their relations with Iran.