06 June, 2017
Four important Arab nations have cut all diplomatic and other links with Qatar accusing the phenomenally wealthy country of "financing terror and undermining security", according to the FT.
Bahrain also prohibited its citizens from traveling to Qatar or residing in it and prohibited Qataris from entering Bahrain or passing through it. Saudi Arabia has also made a decision to block the only land passage for Qatar which runs through the former's territory. The Qatar Stock Exchange fell more than 7 percent.
It also accused Qatar of supporting what it described as Iranian-backed militants in eastern Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
Qatar's World Cup organizing committee declined to comment.
Both Qatar and Saudi Arabia are the major destinations of Bangladeshi workers.
"The measures are unjustified and are based on claims and allegations that have no basis in fact", the statement said, adding that the decisions would "not affect the normal lives of citizens and residents".
"Obviously they have now bubbled up to a level that countries decided they needed to take action in an effort to have those differences addressed", Tillerson said.
Airline companies including Emirates, Etihad and FlyDubai are suspending flights to Qatar from tomorrow.
The countries include Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Yemen, Libya and the Maldives. Qatar was also expelled from the Saudi-led coalition fighting a war in Yemen.
Qatar denounced the moves as based on lies about it supporting militants.
Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies may have felt emboldened by Trump's visit, which saw the new president clearly align USA interests with Riyadh and lash out at Iran.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters in Sydney on Monday that Washington had encouraged its Gulf allies to resolve their differences.
The crisis began in late May when Qatar alleged that hackers took over the site of its state-run news agency and published what it called fake comments from its ruling emir about Iran and Israel.
Qatar's flagship carrier has not yet said if there would be changes to flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, or Cairo.
Qatari football faces no immediate threat from the country's diplomatic crisis but huge questions will loom for the Gulf state's 2022 World Cup plans if relations do not improve with its neighbours.
Doha's Arab neighbors of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain are likely to fully shut down their airspace to Qatar since Tuesday morning local time.
Before Monday, Qatar had appeared unperturbed by the growing tensions.
