KUWAIT is trying to mediate between Qatar and its Arab neighbours blockading it over alleged terrorist support, Doha said yesterday.

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Kuwait’s emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah persuaded his Qatari counterpart to hold off on a speech condemning Saudi Arabia on Monday night.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani “received a call from the emir of Kuwait asking him to postpone it in order to give time to solve the crisis,” the minister said.

US President Donald Trump took credit for prompting the embargo during a trip to the Middle East last month.

Mr Trump tweeted: “So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off.

“They said they would take a hard line on funding extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar.”

Mr Trump and Saudi King Salman agreed $110 billion (£85bn) in arms sales on the visit.

Earlier on Monday Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s chief-of-staff Hamid Aboutalebi said the blockade was “the preliminary result of the sword dance.”

Mr Trump joined in the traditional Saudi war-dance on his arrival in Riyadh.

The crisis erupted on Monday after Qatar’s neighbours Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain severed diplomatic ties and closed their borders, air and sea ports to the emirate.

Egypt, Libya and the Maldives quickly followed suit.

They accused Dohar of supporting Isis, al-Qaida, the Muslim Brotherhood and regional rival Iran.

But the Morning Star’s own source in Saudi Arabia said the differences were mainly over Qatar’s harbouring of the Muslim Brotherhood and attempts to act as a broker between Gulf Arab states and Iran.