Jeddah, Jul 5: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain have received Qatar’s response to their collective demands for restoring relations and that they “will respond to it in a timely manner,” the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said early Wednesday.
The Saudi foreign ministry also said on Twitter that Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir received from Kuwaiti State Minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Sabah the official Qatari response, which described as “unrealistic” the list of demands.
The four countries severed ties with Qatar on June 5 and later put forward a list of 13 demands, which included Doha ending support for the extremist Muslim Brotherhood, closing broadcaster Al-Jazeera, downgrading diplomatic ties with Iran and shutting down a Turkish military base in Qatar.
They gave Qatar a further 48 hours to meet their demands after an initial 10-day deadline expired Sunday, following a request from Kuwait, which is acting as mediator in the crisis.
“The four countries received the Qatari response through the state of Kuwait before the end of the extended period. And it will be responded to at the right time,” the Saudi foreign ministry tweeted.
Foreign ministers from the four countries are due to meet in Cairo, Egypt from 1100 GMT (1 p.m. Cairo time) Wednesday to discuss their next move.
Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, who handed the official response to Kuwait, said the list of demands “is unrealistic and is not actionable.”
“It’s not about terrorism, it’s talking about shutting down the freedom of speech,” he said.
Riyadh and its supporters have severed air, sea and ground links with Qatar, cutting off vital routes for imports including food.
They also ordered Qatari citizens to leave their territories and took various steps against Qatari firms and financial institutions.
On Tuesday, the heads of intelligence from the four boycotting countries held a meeting in Cairo, according to Egypt’s state news agency MENA.
MENA, citing “informed sources,” did not provide details of the meeting, which took place one day before foreign ministers from the four countries were due to meet to decide whether to continue sanctions they imposed on Qatar.
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