Qatar and the US have agreed to enhance cooperation on counterterrorism “to crack down on illicit financing of militant groups,” a joint statement picked up by Reuters says. The agreement followed US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s stop in Doha on Monday, at the end of a week-long Middle East tour that took him to Saudi, the UAE, and Israel for anti-terror talks. “Qatar is keen to show it is cooperating on counterterrorism” in light of the accusations against it by the Saudi-led boycott bloc. Counterterrorism may prove to be a launching point to end the dispute, as both Qatar and Saudi have joined US efforts in the region. A resolution still seems far-off though, with Bahrain recently stepping up pressure by requiring entry visas for Qatari citizens, days after it called to suspend Qatar’s GCC membership. Bloomberg also has the story.

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