Qatar crisis grinds on after US fails to broker resolution

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The United States' top diplomat concluded a week of shuttle diplomacy in the Persian Gulf crisis on Thursday, bearing no promise of a breakthrough but voicing optimism that Qatar and its four Arab neighbors might soon at least be willing to talk face to face.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson traveled to Qatar for a second time for a lunch meeting with 37-year-old Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, following talks earlier in the week in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. As he flew back to Washington, Tillerson told reporters that the discussions had been "helpful" and that the US planned to keep at it.

"In my view, there's a changed sense of willingness to at least be open to talking to one another, and that was not the case before I came," Tillerson said.