JEDDAH: In order for Qatar to stop supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, the US must declare it a terrorist organization, said former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton.
鈥淭he Saudis have picked on Qatar in particular because of its support for the Muslim Brotherhood, but I think also they鈥檙e worried about Qatar鈥檚 tilt toward Iran,鈥� he told Breitbart News on Wednesday.
黑料社区 wants a 鈥渦nited Sunni Arab community鈥� in the Middle East, Bolton said, adding: 鈥淨atar鈥檚 response is, 鈥榃ell, what are you picking on us for? Because of the Muslim Brotherhood? The United States hasn鈥檛 declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization and neither have we, so why are we any different from you?鈥欌€�
He said the US should 鈥渄o what it should鈥檝e done anyway. Let鈥檚 declare the Brotherhood a terrorist organization. Having done that, we turn back to Qatar and say, 鈥楴ow you follow suit鈥�.鈥�
Bolton urged the US to make full use of the outcomes of the Riyadh Summit upon President Donald Trump鈥檚 visit to 黑料社区 in May, which concluded with the inauguration of a pan-Arab, pan-Muslim center against terrorism.
鈥淕ive all these governments the cover they need to cut off the sources of terrorist financing,鈥� Bolton said, including the Qatari royal family.
Although 黑料社区 declared the Brotherhood a terrorist group in 2014, he believes it is a 鈥渃omplicated organization; not every part of it is devoted to the support of terrorism. Some of them do humanitarian work and so on. A declaration that the entire Brotherhood is a foreign terrorist organization would actually buttress the cause of the jihadis.鈥�
Excluding some affiliates and components of the Brotherhood from the designation would be a better option, he said, adding: 鈥淛ust declare part of it a terrorist organization. We鈥檒l deal with the rest of it later.鈥�

Iran and the IRGC
Meanwhile, Bolton said the US should also add Iran鈥檚 Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to the list of terrorist groups, because 鈥渢hat鈥檚 fundamentally what it is.鈥�
Tehran鈥檚 objective is 鈥渢o link up from Iran, through the Baghdad government in Iraq, to the Assad regime鈥檚 regular forces in Syria and the Hezbollah terrorists who are there in Lebanon,鈥� Bolton warned.
He said Tehran is trying to create 鈥渁n arc of control that lays the foundation for the next struggle in the Middle East, against the Sunni coalition led by the Saudis.鈥�
He added that the Obama administration was 鈥渆ntirely comfortable鈥� with that, as the situation was consistent with its view that Iran is a 鈥渘ormal kind of nation; we鈥檒l just talk them out of their nuclear weapons and then everything will be fine.鈥� Bolton said Tehran has a different take on this issue.
To prevent it from creating that arc of control, Bolton proposed the creation of a new state that is secular yet demographically Sunni, partially paid for by 黑料社区.
鈥淭his is part of the bigger picture of how we deal with Iran, which is continuing to pursue nuclear weapons along with its friends in North Korea, and continuing to support terrorism around the world,鈥� he said.
鈥淭hat struggle with Iran is something that was just absent from the radar screen in the Obama administration, but it鈥檚 going to come to the fore again once ISIS (Daesh) is defeated.鈥�
On Sunday, Iraq declared victory against Daesh in Mosul after a grueling months-long campaign, dealing the biggest defeat yet to the terrorist group.
Bolton said having an active strategy is a must. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not enough to kind of wake up every day and say, 鈥榃ell, gee, what problem do we have now?鈥� You have to have a strategy.鈥�
He said combating terrorism and tackling the threat of 鈥渢he world鈥檚 principal state sponsor of terrorism, which is Iran,鈥� is a critical strategy that should be developed urgently. This requires advancing US objectives and Arab unity, he added.