The blockade imposed on Qatar by four Arab states must be lifted before the country can engage into a dialogue, Qatar’s Defense Minister Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah said.
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of interfering in their affairs and supporting “terrorism”, Al Jazeera reported
Foreign diplomats have visited the region, urging dialogue to resolve the crisis that is now in its second month. However, al-Attiyah said “lifting the siege should precede any dialogue”.
“If the blockading countries remain reluctant to lift the siege, Qatar will be compelled to resort to the available international legal procedures to lift it,” al-Attiyah said in an interview with Russia Today, excerpts of which was published by Qatar’s official news agency on Tuesday. The Qatari minister ruled out the relocation of the Al-Udeid US military base from his country.
“US-Qatari relations are strong,” he said, going on to deny that the “acceleration of the deployment of Turkish troops in Qatar was in anticipation of any military escalation against Doha”.
“The Turkish and US military presence in Qatar doesn’t pose any kind of sensitivity at all,” he said, arguing that the Saudi-led group has relied in its escalation on US President Donald Trump’s tweets.
“They forgot that the US is a country of institutions, most of which is the department of state, which has explicitly supported the Qatari position,” he said.
