The Qatar crisis seems to have escalated further as the Saudi Arabia-led block is considering fresh sanctions that may include asking trading partners to choose between them or Doha, United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to Russia said.
The envoy Omar Ghobash, while giving an interview to the Guardian newspaper, said, “Expulsion of Qatar from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was not the only sanction available for the UAE and its allies.
He added, “There are certain economic sanctions that we can take which are being considered right now. One possibility would be to impose conditions on our own trading partners and say; you want to work with us, then you have got to make a commercial choice.”
Four countries; Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting terrorism.
Ghobash said that if Qatar “was not willing to accept the demands, it is a case of 'Goodbye Qatar' we do not need you in our tent any more”.
On June 22, the Saudi-led bloc issued a 13-point demand list in exchange for the end of the anti-Qatar measures and gave a 10-day deadline.
The demands included, among others, that Qatar shut down the Al Jazeera media network, close a Turkish military base and scale down ties with Iran.
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