Bahrain has stopped issuing new visas to Qataris, the interior ministry said late on Tuesday, in the latest salvo in a months-long feud between the energy-rich Gulf states.
The small but strategic island kingdom severed relations with Qatar in June last year at the same time as Saudi Arabia and its allies Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.
But it had continued issuing some visas to citizens of the emirate, which lies just 40 kilometers (25 miles) away on the mainland of the Arabian Peninsula.
The ministry said only Qatari students studying in Bahrain would be exempt from the new measures, although visas already issued would remain valid.
The measures were a response to the “irresponsible actions of the Qatari authorities, who do not consider the rights of neighboring countries or the principles of international law,” the ministry said in a statement carried by the official BNA news agency.
The two sides have exchanged repeated allegations of violations of airspace or territorial waters and have launched multiple law suits through international tribunals.
Source: AFP
