Earlier this week, a makeshift coalition of nations led by Saudi Arabia severed their diplomatic ties with Qatar. The end in diplomatic relations comes after Saudi Arabia accused the Qatari government of supporting foreign terrorist organizations - an accusation which Qatar has since denied.
A total of five Arab states followed Saudi Arabia's lead and cut their diplomatic ties with Qatar, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt. The countries have since barred Qatari planes from entering their airspace and have encouraged their banks not to conduct business with Qatari banks and firms.
Both Qatari diplomats and visitors to the countries were given forty-eight hours to leave in many cases.
Fear of a food shortage
Neighboring nations have also blocked Qatar from using their land links. Because Qatar is a peninsula nation without much agriculture, it relies heavily on foreign imports and trade for its food.
When diplomatic ties were broken earlier this week, many Qataris panicked and ran to the stores to stock up on as much food and supplies as possible, which led to a temporary shortage in many supermarkets.
In order to dispel rumors of a possibly permanent Food Shortage, the Ministry of Commerce and Economy released a video showing full shelves at a supermarket.
The narrator claimed that "There are abundant products in line with a government plan that is activated under such circumstances."
Turkey and Iran
Since the start of the diplomatic rift, Qatar has been in contact with Turkey and Iran in order to secure trade deals that will hopefully prevent a major food shortage from hitting the import-dependent nation.
Turkey and Iran have since assured that their trade companies would be more than willing to assist Qatar and could indeed meet the food and water demands of the Qatari people.
On Wednesday, Iranian media stated that Tehran is ready to send shipments of food supplies to Qatar. Iran has also offered Qatar its airspace. Bahram Qassemi, a spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, says he hopes that parties involved, "show utmost restraint and move toward reducing tensions and returning to tranquility."
Turkish media outlets also released a statement on Wednesday saying they had started to send food shipments to Qatar as well.
The Turkish president, Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the accusation of Saudi Arabia and its allies, standing by Qatar and saying, "Turkey will continue and will develop our ties with Qatar, as with all our friends who have supported us in the most difficult moments."
Erdogan dismisses the accusations against Qatar as baseless, telling Turkish media that if he believed Qatar had ties to terrorist organizations, Turkey would have been "the first one" to cut ties with them.
The rift between Qatar and the other Gulf states is expected to push the Qatari government away from its neighbors and towards better relations with Turkey and Iran. The diplomatic crisis has been called one of the largest in recent Middle Eastern history, with several regional powerhouses on each side.
Turkey and the United States both have good relations with Qatar. Qatar is home to one of the largest US military bases in the Middle East, which acts as an operating base for operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Turkey also has a military base in the country.
The Qatari foreign minister has stated that this is the first time Qatar has experienced this type of hostility. However, the foreign minister also claimed that he is open to a diplomatic resolution to the crisis.
