Saudi Arabia's permanent representative to the UN Abdullah Al Maalami said Sunday in statements that Qatar insists on destabilizing the security of Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region.

Al Maalami pointed out that Qatar has been supporting terrorist groups for 20 years, a policy which threatens the entire world, Al Arabiya TV news channel reported.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt have taken a sovereign decision to sever relations with Qatar to maintain security in the region and press Doha to halt its support to terrorism, Al-Moallemi said in a statement published by the Saudi foreign ministry.

He voiced his country's refusal to Qatar's 20-year-old relations with Iran and its policies of intervening in other countries' internal affairs.

All four countries have previously attempted to convince Qatar to halt its regional policies in 2013 and 2014, but such attempts have failed, he added.

Source: MENA