Qatar braces for fresh sanctions as crisis goes on

QATAR responded to a list of demands made by Saudi Arabia and its allies yesterday but officials in Doha said they were braced for a fresh round of economic sanctions from Arab states that are blockading its borders.

Ten days after Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the UAE delivered a 13-point ultimatum to the Gulf state, the emir of Qatar yesterday responded with a letter addressed to Kuwait, which is trying to mediate the crisis.

The letter was not made public but it is believed to be in line with Qatar’s past statements on the crisis, where it offered to negotiate but said it would not meet all 13 demands, which include closing the Al-jazeera television network and expelling Turkish troops from its territory.

Saudi Arabia and its allies had given Qatar until yesterday to meet its demands, but agreed to allow an additional 48 hours for the diplomatic process to continue.

Foreign ministers from the four blockading countries will meet in Cairo tomorrow to announce their next moves. Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, welcomed the flurry of diplomatic activity and it said was a hopeful sign in the search for a solution to the month-long dispute. “This is an important step in building confidence between the parties,” he said.

But officials in Qatar said they believed the crisis was far from over and were preparing in case the Cairo summit of foreign ministers led to new economic sanctions. “Qatar is willing to discuss and negotiate but we are not willing to compromise our principles to satisfy others. The current blockade is unjustified, unwarranted and unprovoked,” one official said.

Saudi Arabia shut Qatar’s only land border in June and other states have closed their air space to Qatari flights, forcing Qatar to turn to Turkey and Iran for food supplies.

New sanctions could target the Qatari currency or involve withdrawing deposits from Qatar’s banks.