Qatar strongly criticizes Arab quartet; claims it has US backing in Gulf crisis

NewsBharati    18-Nov-2017
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Washington, November 18: Amidst intensifying Gulf crisis, Qatar has severely criticized Arab quartet of Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and claimed that Doha has the support of United States to resolve the dispute with its neighbours.


 

Notably, Qatar’s foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani during his visit to Washington said that Qatar is prepared if Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt were to take military action against Doha. He further added that Qatar has the backing of United States to resolve the dispute with its Arab neighbours.

Sheikh Mohammed also noted that the Trump administration had offered to host mediation talks at the Camp David presidential retreat to resolve the dispute, although only Qatar had agreed. “The Middle East needs to be addressed as the top priority of the foreign policy agenda of the United States,” the Qatari Foreign Minister concluded.

Arab quartet including Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have cut off ties with Qatar and blockaded the state, accusing it of supporting terrorism and sowing discord in the region. Now Arab quartet is trying to put pressure on Qatar’s hosting the 2022 World Cup, demanding that if Doha gives up the tournament then they would lift their sanctions.

Importantly, in the month of June this year, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt and several other nations cut ties with Qatar and imposed stringent economic sanctions on it over supporting extremism. On the other side, Qatar denied all their allegations saying that they never supported Islamist militants and Shi'ite Iran.

Later, Saudi and its allies issued a 13-point list of demands to end the rift on June 22 and gave Qatar 10 days to comply. However, earlier Qatar rejected to fulfill the demands. The controversial Qatar World Cup will take place Nov. 21-Dec. 18 in 2022.