10 June, 2017
"This is a foreign policy gone wild", state minister for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash told AFP.
Qatar's foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, speaking to reporters in Doha on Thursday, said his government had not received a list of specific demands from the Saudi-led bloc, but he suggested Qatar was unwilling to modify its policies to satisfy their complaints.
"If there is any sensible argument or sensible accusation, we are ready to answer", Sheikh Mohammed said.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and other countries severed diplomatic ties with Qatar earlier this week and cut off air, sea and land travel to the peninsular nation.
Tillerson says the blockade is hindering US military efforts and the campaign against the Islamic State group.
Those two, Sa'd al-Ka'bi and Abd al-Latif al-Kawari, are among dozens of individuals and entities named Friday by Saudi Arabia and its three allies. The showdown deepened on Thursday, with the UAE banning all worldwide flights serving Doha from flying through its airspace. Several other countries later followed suit. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said isolating Qatar would not resolve any problems. Saudi Arabia's central bank has ordered lenders in the country not to increase their exposure to any Qatari clients, according to people familiar with the matter.
The UAE's national postal service, Emirates Post Group, suspended all postal services to Qatar, state news agency WAM said, the latest in a series of measures narrowing commercial and communications links with Doha. "A political, economic and social aggression", a Qatari diplomat said. In backing the Saudis, the president offered unconditional support for a country that has fostered the spread of Islamist extremism across the world and that has supplied numerous foot soldiers for the Islamic State and al-Qaida - not to mention most of the 9/11 hijackers.
S&P Global Ratings this week lowered Qatar's long-term rating by one level to AA-, the fourth-highest investment grade, and put it on negative watch on concern the dispute will weaken its finances.
Bans on Doha's fleet using regional ports and anchorages are threatening to halt some of its exports and disrupt those of liquefied natural gas. Its influence goes beyond money.
The worst crisis in decades among the Gulf's Arab monarchies is underpinned in part by the regional rivalry between Sunni-led Saudi Arabia, the Middle East's strongest Sunni power, and Shiite Iran, which has cordial relations with Qatar, known for its contradictory ties. Qatar says it does not accept its neighbors' view that any group with an Islamist background is terrorist.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have both criticized each other for supporting Islamist groups fighting in Syria.
Qatar vowed on Thursday to ride out the isolation and said it would not compromise its sovereignty over foreign policy to resolve the region's biggest diplomatic crisis in years. That story falsely reported comments by Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani at a military graduation ceremony, saying that President Trump might not last long in office, criticizing escalation of animosity toward Iran, and praising Hezbollah and Hamas as resistance organizations.
