US Secretary of State to travel to Kuwait in bid to resolve diplomatic crisis

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will travel to Kuwait on July 10 to try and solve the diplomatic crisis between Qatar and Arab states. Photo / AP

The US Secretary of State will travel to Kuwait in a bid to resolve the diplomatic crisis between Qatar and four Arab states led by Saudi Arabia, his department says.

Rex Tillerson will meet on July 10 with senior Kuwaiti officials who have been trying to mediate between the Gulf countries embroiled in the dispute.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain announced on Wednesday they would not resume diplomatic ties or lift the trade ban against Qatar, whom they accuse of having links to terror groups.

The four countries justified their stance by citing Qatar's refusal of their demands to resume relations.

Those demands included shutting down the Al-Jazeera news channel, scaling down diplomatic relations with Iran and closing a Turkish military base in the emirate.

They said Doha's refusal of their demands is proof of its links to terror groups and that they will enact new measures against it.

The Qatari government sabotaged diplomatic efforts to solve the rift, the four states said, and its refusal affirmed its continuing sabotage of the region's stability and security. The measures taken by the four states were aimed at the Qatari government but not its people, they said.

Tillerson has been in contact with the Saudi-led bloc and Qatar, where the US has its largest military base in the region, and other regional players over the last month.

He has urged the five countries to resolve their dispute, warning that it hampers operations against the Islamic State terror group.

In late June, the State Department questioned whether the boycott of Qatar was about its alleged links to terrorism or "long-simmering grievances" among the Gulf countries.

Tillerson is currently accompanying US President Donald Trump, who has sided with the Saudi-led bloc and blamed Qatar for the crisis, in Hamburg, Germany to attend the G20 summit that begins on Friday.

After the summit, the US Secretary of State will travel to Kiev and then to Istanbul before his trip to Kuwait.

- AAP