MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Monday, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut off diplomatic relations with Qatar, accusing the latter of supporting terrorist organizations and destabilizing the situation in the Middle East. Libya, Yemen, the Maldives, Mauritius and Mauritania also announce a break in relations with Doha, and Jordan said it will lower the level of diplomatic contacts with Qatar.
"We want Qatar to take a U-turn, we want Qatar to change course in its sponsorship and support of extremism and its sponsorship and support of disruptive policies in the Gulf and in wider region… This [UAE approach] will jolt the system in Qatar, will bring many of the cooler heads, the wiser heads to prevail, they will bring this advice to the Amir of Qatar, to the government of Qatar and advice that here is a U-turn, a change course. If this does not work then we will have to escalate our economic steps… and a sort of embargo on Qatar," Gargash told France24 television channel in an interview.
Gargash noted that the current approach was going to be much harsher that the one applied in 2014, when Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE recalled their ambassadors from Qatar amid eight-month rift over the latter's support for Islamist movements, including Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood (outlawed in Russia).
