US secretary of state Tillerson urges dialogue in Gulf

With the diplomatic row between a group of Arab states and Qatar showing no signs of abating, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on the concerned parties to 'sit down together' to try and reach a resolution.

In his first response to a sweeping list of 13 conditions imposed by Arab states on Qatar, Tillerson stressed that there were significant areas which provide a basis for ongoing dialogue leading to resolution, although he also criticized some of the demands by Saudi Arabia and its allies on Qatar as very difficult to meet.

Qatar's foreign minister rejected the list of demands which were made on Friday.

Qatar has been under unprecedented diplomatic and economic sanctions for more than two weeks, while Iran and Turkey are increasingly supplying it with food and other goods.