The person said that Qatar had given little in return, agreeing to drop international lawsuits it had filed against the other countries after the blockade. Prince Mohammed, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, portrayed the agreement as a way to present a united front against Iran. Mr. Abdulla argued that the Gulf rulers had not expected to force Qatar to change its entire way of doing business. At the least, he said, they had been able to make their displeasure with the Qataris clear. But they came nowhere close to crippling Qatar, which, despite suffering from the blockade, leveraged its vast natural gas wealth to make its economy more self-sufficient and build new trading links.

Source: International New York Times January 05, 2021 13:33 UTC