DOHA, Qatar — A sea, air and land blockade that four Arab states imposed on independent-minded Qatar more than 2½ years ago appears to have failed.

Now the feud, which has divided key U.S. allies and complicated President Trump’s ambitions in the region, might be strengthening the country of nearly 2.9 million people in the Persian Gulf.

In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain moved to punish Qatar for what the allies said was support for a range of Arab opposition groups in the region, from dissident liberals to the conservative Muslim Brotherhood. Qatar’s diplomatic and trade ties with Iran, while Tehran was directly challenging Riyadh and Washington, were clearly the root of the tensions.

Qatar has refused to bow to the pressure, and International Monetary Fund forecasters now say Qatar’s annual growth rate in real gross domestic product will slightly outpace those of neighboring Saudi Arabia and UAE.

The gas-rich emirate has a sovereign wealth fund valued at $320 billion.

“We are not a poor country,” said Ahmed Al-Khalaf, CEO of International Projects Development Co., a food importer. “After Saudi Arabia closed the land border to trucks and the UAE prevented ships from sailing here from the container port at Jebel Ali, we could have flown in caviar by airplane and fed our people with that.”

The largely Sunni Muslim country will host the 2022 World Cup, and the quadrennial event is expected to be a bonanza for the construction and tourism sectors.

SOURCE: WASHINGTONTIMES