Qatar rejects ‘blockade,’ denies terror allegations

DOHA, Qatar — Arab states have no right to “blockade” Qatar, the country’s top diplomat said Thursday, insisting the campaign by Saudi Arabia and its allies to isolate the tiny, energy-rich nation is based on “false and fabricated news.”

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani repeatedly denied that his country funded extremists and rejected the idea of shutting down its AlJazeera satellite news network.

He said Qatar, as an independent nation, also had the right to support groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, despite its neighbors outlawing the Sunni Islamist group.

Sheikh Mohammed’s hard line mirrored that of a top Emirati diplomat who said Wednesday that the United Arab Emirates believes “there’s nothing to negotiate” with Qatar.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and other countries severed diplomatic ties with Qatar this week and cut off air, sea and land travel to the nation.

Kuwait’s emir is working to mediate the Gulf crisis around Qatar, which is home to a U.S. military base and is the host of the 2022 World Cup.

“If anyone thinks they are going to impose anything on my internal affairs or my internal issues, this is not going to happen,” Sheikh Mohammed said.

The U.S. prefers the countries to resolve the crisis amongst themselves; however, President Donald Trump offered Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to mediate talks at the White House, said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert. Tillerson The U.S. offered to have Secretary of State Rex Tillerson mediate talks to resolve the crisis with Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. has experience in Saudi Arabia and other countries involved in the dispute from his time as the former Exxon Mobil CEO.

But Sheikh Mohammed said Qatari ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani “is not going to leave the country while the country is in blockade.”

Worried residents have responded to the crisis by emptying grocery stores in Doha, the capital, and Saudi Arabia has blocked trucks carrying food from entering the country across its only land border.

Doha is a major international travel hub, but flag carrier Qatar Airways now flies increasingly over Iran and Turkey after being blocked elsewhere in the Middle East. On Wednesday, Emirati officials shut down the airline’s offices in the UAE.

Al-Jazeera’s offices have been shut down by authorities in Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Turkey’s parliament, on the other hand, has approved sending troops to an existing Turkish base in Qatar as a sign of support.

“No one has given them the right to blockade my country, not to allow cars, or my flights to fly over their countries or my ships to park in their port,” the foreign minister said. “No one is giving them the right to separate families and displace people. No one has given them the right to separate Qatari women from their Saudi children, or Emirati women from their Qatari children.”

Sheikh Mohammed repeatedly denied that Qatar funded extremists and terrorist groups, the main reason given for this week’s moves against it. Western officials long have accused Qatar’s government of allowing or encouraging the funding of some Sunni extremists, and the Qatari government has supported the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

An initial report from Qatar’s Interior Ministry late Wednesday said the website of the Qatar News Agency was first hacked in April with “high techniques and innovative methods.” It said hackers installed a file and then published a false news item attributed to Sheikh Tamim on May 24.

The fabricated article quoted Sheikh Tamim as calling Iran an “Islamic power” and saying Qatar’s relations with Israel were “good” during a military ceremony. The report was widely picked up by regional media outlets, which continued circulating it after Qatar’s denial.