U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said a dispute between a Saudi Arabian-led bloc and Qatar may last "quite a while," as the two sides still refuse to speak to each other directly and are no closer to resolving the key demands made after the crisis started.
Despite leaving the Middle East after four days of shuttle diplomacy without a breakthrough, Tillerson said progress had been made. Potential ways forward in the dispute were weighed by both sides, and there is a "changed sense of willingness to at least be open to talking to one another and that was not the case before I came," Tillerson said Thursday evening while en route to Washington from the Gulf region.
Nevertheless, "the final and ultimate resolution may take quite a while," Tillerson said. "But if we can begin to have some success beginning to take some of these issues off the table because we now have a way to move forward then I'm hoping that will start the process of returning, normalizing relations."
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