Modified Demands to Qatar Key to Diplomatic Row Talks - Saudi UN Representative

DUBAI (Sputnik) — On Wednesday, media reported that Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) cut down their list of demands to six from their initial 13, excluding the shutdown of Al Jazeera broadcaster, among other provisions. The ultimatum did not provide any fixed deadline. Later reports suggested that the Arab states were now asking Doha to comply with six broader principles laid out at the Cairo Summit on July 5 instead.

According to the Emirates News Agency (WAM), Al-Mouallimi said Wednesday, at a meeting with UN-based correspondents, that the six principles established at the Cairo Summit of the Foreign Ministers of the four Arab States, which include a commitment to fight extremism, halting all provocations and attempts to incite hatred, as well as refraining from meddling in other state's domestic affairs, were key to negotiations with Qatar.

The Saudi UN Ambassador noted that "there had been no meaningful engagement from Qatar on the list of specific demands made by the four Arab States in June."

The six principles agreed upon in early July also include compliance with the Riyadh Agreement of 2013 and with all the outcomes of May 2017 Arab Islamic American Summit.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt broke off diplomatic relations with Doha in the beginning of June over Qatar's alleged support of terrorism and interference in other states' affairs. Several other countries then joined the boycott.

The original demands were more specific than the six principles, insisting that Qatar scale back relations with Iran, expel Turkish troops, stop financing terrorist organizations and fulfill several other requirements within 10 days. Qatar rejected the demands, saying they were unreasonable.