The United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to the United States said on Tuesday there was no military aspect to steps taken by Arab powers against Qatar, but that further economic pressure could be applied.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties with Qatar and imposed stringent economic sanctions on it. Doha denies their accusations that it supports “terrorism”.
“There is absolutely no military component to anything that we are doing,” UAE Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba told reporters in Washington.
He said he has been in contact several times with U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to assure him the U.S. military base in Qatar, Al Udeid, would not be affected by the crisis.
Otaiba said the measures against Qatar were not an attempt to have the base moved “but if anyone asks we’d be willing to have that conversation.” He pointed out a defense accord that the United States and the UAE signed last month would allow Washington send more troops and equipment there.
When asked what further steps could be taken against Qatar, Otaiba said:
“We’ve designated 59 people and 12 entities. It’s likely that you could see designations of their bank accounts and perhaps of the banks themselves. And so there’ll be an escalation of economic pressure, again, short of a policy shift or negotiations that lead to a policy shift.”
Otaiba said the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt were compiling a list of demands for Qatar that would be “handed over to the United States fairly soon.”
He said they would broadly address the three areas of support for ‘terrorism’, meddling in the internal affairs of these countries and attacks through Qatari-owned media platforms.
Otaiba said the four nations are seeking a shift in Qatar’s behavior through economic and political pressure.
“It’s not our goal to undermine the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) but at the same time we don’t want a member of the GCC undermining us,” he said.
Source: Reuters
