Saudi leaders refused US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s requests on Sundayto end the four-month-long Qatar boycott, Bloomberg reports. Tillerson met yesterday with Saudi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to “ask him to please engage in dialogue,” but said after that the two sides were not yet ready to talk. Tillerson is in the Middle East in the hopes of finding quick resolution to the feud between Doha and its neighbors, which he says is “unintentionally bolstering Iran.” Tillerson also sat down with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abedi in Riyadh yesterday in a meeting that’s being largely viewed as an attempt to “seek Arab help … to isolate Iran,” whose “growing assertiveness” in the region is threatening US interests, ABC News says.

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