CAIRO (Sputnik) — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt criticized Qatar on Thursday for setting preconditions for negotiations on how to end their dispute, local media reported.
The Arab states claimed in a joint statement, quoted by Sky News Arabia, Qatar’s demand that the air, land and sea blockage on it be lifted proved it did not take their concerns seriously.
1 September 2017, 22:09 GMT
The four states severed diplomatic ties and transport links with Doha in early June after accusing it of supporting terrorism in the region and interfering in their domestic affairs.
They issued Qatar with a 13-point ultimatum which required the small emirate to scale down relations with Iran, close a Turkish military base and shut Al Jazeera television channel. Qatar denied all allegations. It said the requests were too harsh and breached its sovereignty.
