Iraqi premier to discuss crisis with King Salman in Jeddah

Prime Minister of Iraq Haider al-Abadi. (AFP)

JEDDAH: King Salman of Saudi Arabia and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi will meet on Wednesday in Jeddah, the London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported, citing Saudi State Minister for Gulf Affairs Thamer Al-Sabhan.
Al-Abadi said on Tuesday Iraq is opposed to the isolation of Qatar by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab neighbors because it hurts ordinary citizens.
“Regimes are not affected by the blockade; the blockade hurts people,” Al-Abadi told reporters in Baghdad.
Al-Abadi said he would seek clarification from Saudi Arabia about the accusations made against Qatar.
Al-Abadi has been eager to keep Iraq out of the dispute between Qatar and its neighbors. On Sunday, he denied press reports which had angered Gulf Arab states suggesting that hundreds of millions of dollars sent by Qatar to Baghdad for the freeing in April of a group of abducted Qatari royals had ended up in Iran.
The royals were abducted in 2015 in southern Iraq, a region controlled by Iranian-backed groups.
King Salman and Al-Abadi last met in March on the sidelines of the Arab summit and in February Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir made a rare visit to Baghdad.