Saudi-led blockade to continue over Qatar's 'negative' response

Doha [Qatar], Jul 6 (ANI): Four Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, have said that they would continue their diplomatic and economic blockade of Qatar after the nation gave a "negative" response to their list of demands.

On June 5, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain severed their ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism.

On 22 June, the four nations put forth a 13-point list of demands - including ending support for the Muslim Brotherhood, closing of al-Jazeera, a reduction in diplomatic ties with Iran, and the halting of a Turkish military base in Qatar -and gave Qatar 10 days to comply.

That deadline was extended by 48 hours on Sunday, when Qatar responded to their demands.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said Qatar's answers were "overall negative and lacked any substance."

"This position shows the lack of awareness of how dangerous the situation is," CNN quoted Shoukry as saying.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said the four nations would consult and soon decide on the future steps at the right time

Qatar's foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said his nation won't comply with any demands that it considers a violation of 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. ... So there are a lot of demands which are against the international law," CNN quoted as saying. (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI