President Donald Trump again undercut officials in his own administration on Tuesday by blasting out a series of tweets that cheered Arab states isolating Qatar — and possibly encouraged them to keep up their pressure in the process. On Monday, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain cut diplomatic ties and transportation links with Qatar, a fellow member of OPEC. The nations have long criticized Qatar's support for Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood.

If he's willing to publicly align himself with the Saudi and Emirati position, I don't see how we have a diplomatic off ramp in the near term. Helima Croft head of commodities research, RBC Capital Markets

"If he's willing to publicly align himself with the Saudi and Emirati position, I don't see how we have a diplomatic off-ramp in the near term," she told CNBC. "I think the Qataris want an off-ramp, but if you're the Saudis, are you going to back off your maximalist demands at this point?" Those demands likely will include dropping support for the Muslim Brotherhood — a Sunni Islamist group that was elected to power in Egypt after the Arab Spring, then forced out by a military coup — and potentially muzzling Al Jazeera, the Qatari news agency that has been a thorn in Gulf powers' side, Croft said. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer contradicted the president's sentiment on Tuesday by saying Trump was "very heartened" by his "constructive conversation" with the emir of Qatar two weeks ago. Spicer said the emir had shown commitment to joining a new U.S.-Saudi initiative to disrupt terror financing.

Sharpening tensions