Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein Jaberi Ansari underlined the necessity for the settlement of differences between Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but in the meantime, said that Tehran doesn’t accept Riyadh’s hegemonic policies against Doha.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran doesn’t support exacerbation of the crisis between Doha and Riyadh, and it clearly states that it doesn’t accept any policy that is based on the hegemony of an actor in relations with other neighbors,” Jaberi Ansari said on Wednesday.
Stressing that Iran itself doesn’t pursue hegemonic policies either, he said, “Therefore, the Islamic Republic of Iran believes that the two sides should move to decrease tension and conflicts through direct negotiations.”
Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar early June, and suspended air and sea communication one week after the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh, accusing Doha of supporting terrorist organizations and destabilizing the situation in the Middle East.
Qatar rejected claims by a Saudi-led bloc of countries that it “finances terrorism” and intervenes in their internal affairs.
After more than two weeks, on June 22, the Saudi-led bloc gave Qatar a 10 days to comply with 13 demands, which included shutting down the Al-Jazeera Media Network, closing a Turkish military base and scaling down ties with Iran.
Through Kuwait, which has been acting as intermediary, Qatar officially responded to the new deadline, as Doha stressed that the demands by Saudi Arabia and its allies were impossible to meet.
Foreign Ministers from the bloc of countries boycotting Qatar released a statement, saying Doha’s rejection of the demands “proved” its link with terrorism. Top diplomats of the boycotting countries also added that the list of the collective demands was now void and they pledged further political, economic, and legal steps against Qatar.
Qatar had announced that Doha would not meet any of the 13 demands made by Saudi Arabia and its allies, offering instead “a proper condition for a dialogue” to resolve the [Persian] Gulf crisis, accused Saudi Arabia and its regional allies of “demanding that we must surrender our sovereignty as the price for ending the siege”.
But Riyadh reiterated that its demands to Qatar to end the stand-off in the [Persian] Gulf were “non-negotiable”.
Qatar is supported by Turkey and Iran as Ankara and Tehran have stepped in to provide fresh produce, poultry and dairy products to Doha, while Russia stressed that Moscow would do “everything possible” to help resolve the crisis. The US, UK and other Western countries have also dispatched senior envoys to the region to press both sides to resolve the dispute.
The split among the Arab states erupted after US President Donald Trump visited Riyadh where he accused Iran of “destabilizing interventions” in Arab lands.
Source: Fars news agency
