Qatar’s foreign minister made an unannounced trip to Riyadh last month to meet with top Saudi officials, a diplomatic breakthrough that signals the most serious effort yet to end a 2½-year rift between U.S. allies in the energy-rich Gulf, according to U.S. and Arab officials.
One Arab official who confirmed the trip said that Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani made a surprise offer to end the breach while he was in Riyadh, saying that Doha is willing to sever its ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist political movement distrusted by the Saudi monarchy and its allies.
That would meet a major demand made by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other countries when they severed diplomatic ties and cut transportation links with Qatar in 2017. They accused it of supporting terrorism, which Qatar denies.
Saudi Arabia is weighing Qatar’s proposal, the Arab official said. It remains to be seen whether the sides can agree, and some current and former U.S. diplomats, along with officials from the region, expressed skepticism that the rift can be healed in the near future.
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The cracks within the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council have put Washington in an awkward position and complicated its efforts to unite the GCC to counter Iran. The rift pits the Saudis and Emiratis, who have close security and economic ties to the U.S., against Qatar, which hosts the largest U.S. air base in the region.
Mr. Thani’s visit to Riyadh, which hasn’t been previously reported, was preceded by several rounds of intense diplomacy, much of it mediated by Kuwait, people familiar with the matter said. Some meetings took place on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Japan this summer, they said, without providing details.
Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E. and Bahrain, along with Egypt, launched a boycott of Qatar in June 2017. They issued a list of 13 demands, including that Qatar stop financing terrorism, close the Al Jazeera satellite TV network and curtail ties with Iran.
Qatar doesn’t consider the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group, and while it denies financing the group, it has offered political support to Brotherhood groups and members, including Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who was overthrown in a 2013 coup by Egypt’s military.
The Qatari proposal to end its ties to the group is the most promising opportunity yet to end the dispute, the Arab official said.
“I think this is a serious offer,” the official said. “I think it’s unprecedented. There is a level of skepticism, and actions that will have to be happening to show it is serious.”
Asked about the diplomatic developments, a senior Qatari official said that since the crisis began, “we have welcomed each and every opportunity to resolve the ongoing blockade through open dialogue and mutual respect of each country’s sovereignty.”
On Qatar’s relations with groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, “our commitments have always been to uphold international law and protect human rights and not to a specific party or group,” the official added. “Our support has been sometimes misconstrued by those seeking to isolate Qatar, but the facts bear out our position.”
The Saudi Embassy in Washington didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Saudi and Qatari officials are preparing to meet again to discuss details that would define exactly what Doha is willing to do to cut ties with various Muslim Brotherhood groups.
“We see forward momentum, but we’re not starting from a place where everybody is confident and has trust,” the Arab official said. “We need to continue to negotiate and gain trust until we reach a level of understanding.”
Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic efforts are part of a broader move by Riyadh to resolve regional feuds that have tarnished the country’s international image. Riyadh also is working to extricate itself from the war in Yemen and embark on new talks with Iran, which has been accused of carrying out a series of destabilizing attacks across the region, including the Sept. 14 drone and missile strike that hit the heart of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry.
People familiar with the issue said that while the Saudis may be open to reconciliation with Qatar, the U.A.E. and their de facto leader, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, remain skeptical.
“There is some optimism that perhaps there’s been a little bit of a thaw” in Gulf relations, said Gerald Feierstein, a former senior State Department official and ambassador to Yemen.
While there are indications of rapprochement between the Saudis and Qataris, it is “not entirely clear that we’re seeing the same kind of thing” between the Emiratis and the Qataris, said Mr. Feierstein, senior vice president of the Middle East Institute in Washington.
One public sign of easing tensions came in a bit of “soccer diplomacy” this week, when teams from the countries that have boycotted Qatar arrived to compete in the Gulf Cup tournament in Doha.
Talks also are under way about holding a meeting of GCC foreign ministers.
The group consists of the Saudis, U.A.E., Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. Such a meeting could help present a united front regarding Iran.
—Summer Said in Dubai contributed to this article.
Write to Warren P. Strobel at Warren.Strobel@wsj.com and Dion Nissenbaum at dion.nissenbaum@wsj.com
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