Arab nations: Qatar had ‘very negative’ response to list of demands to resolve crisis

Foreign ministers from the four nations said Qatar’s response did not indicate “understanding of the seriousness and gravity of the situation,” according to multiple news reports from the Middle East. The countries did not announce what would happen next in the diplomatic crisis, which began last month.

“We will consult and we will take future steps in the right time,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubair told the BBC.

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told CNN that amid the accusations that his country supports terrorism, many of the Middle Eastern nations’ demands themselves “are against the international law.”

“If you are looking at the demands – there are accusations that Qatar is supporting terrorism — they are shutting free speech, shutting the media outlets, expelling people, oppositions, violating the international law by with their own citizenship from some of the people and return them back home,” he said. “So there are a lot of demands which are against the international law.”

The foreign ministers of the four nations spoke on Wednesday to discuss Qatar’s response to their demands and will meet again in Bahrain at an unspecified date, CNN reported.

The four nations cut diplomatic ties and suspended travel to Qatar last month. They issued their list of demands on June 22 and gave Qatar 10 days to comply, before moving the deadline back two days at the request of mediator country Kuwait.

During his visit to Saudi Arabia in May, President Trump spoke about the need for Middle Eastern nations to cut off terrorist funding and tweeted about it when news of the diplomatic crisis broke out.

“So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off. They said they would take a hard line on funding extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!” Trump said in a pair of tweets.