CNN reported on Tuesday that USA intelligence officials believe Russian hackers planted a false news story that led Saudi Arabia and several allies to sever relations with Qatar.
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“Qatar has to redress its path and has to go back to all previous commitments, it has to stop media campaigns and has to distance itself from our number one enemy Iran”, Sheikh Khalid said.
Qatar’s isolation from powerful fellow Arab states advanced, however.
In a major face-off in the Gulf region, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and some other countries have cut ties with Qatar, accusing the latter of extending support to extremists.
Qatar acknowledges its links to these groups, but denies that it supports terrorism.
Qatari nationals will now not be allowed to pass through airports in the UAE even to change planes.
Nance said the risk of Trump’s decision to pick sides in the fight is that Qatar could potentially ask the USA – which has Al Udeid Air Base and 11,000 military personnel in the country – to leave.
Qatar said on Thursday the action against it was endangering stability in Gulf but it was not prepared to compromise to settle the dispute.
The effect of Monday’s punitive measures on Qatar was immediate. According to a Reuters report, the country relies on Gulf neighbours for 80 percent of food imports and its largest suppliers are UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Qatar’s stock market fell by more than 7 percent Monday, though it recovered somewhat Tuesday. Doha, Qatar’s capital, is a major hub for global flight connections.
Analysts have said Qatar Airways will lose millions of dollars in revenue from flight cancellations caused by the scrapping of its license by Saudi Arabia.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has strongly criticised U.S. President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia’s leaders for a new regional alliance against Tehran unveiled in May, saying it would bear no fruit.
Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told CNN that FBI investigators have confirmed that the agency was hacked and a fake article was inserted into the agency’s system.
Marri said he would raise his concerns with a team from Amnesty International on Wednesday and would also appeal to United Nations human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein to intervene. The report was widely picked up by regional media outlets, which continued circulating it after Qatar’s denial.
“They said they would take a hard line on funding. extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar”.
“Investors like predictably and transparency on such matters”, he said.
Energy-rich Qatar has long had strained ties with its neighbors, but the move by Saudi Arabia and its supporters raised fears of more volatility in the region.
Outside of the Gulf region, the economic and financial impact seems limited so far.
Qatar is also the world’s biggest producer of liquefied natural gas, sharing a vast underwater field with Iran, and exports heavily.
UAE-based newspaper Gulf News and pan-Arab channel Al-Arabiya reported the crackdown on expressions of sympathy with Qatar.
Qatar is heavily dependent on food imports and residents have been queuing at supermarkets to stockpile.
A Pentagon spokesman said the crisis has had “no impact on our operations in Qatar or with regards to airspace permission around it”.
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“Nobody wants to hurt Qatar. Let me say it’s impossible”, she said.
