The UAE warned Qatar Friday that it faces “divorce” from its Gulf neighbors unless it takes their demands seriously.
Anwar Gargash, the UAE’s state minister for foreign affairs, issued the warning more than two weeks into the oil-rich region’s worst diplomatic crisis in years.
“It would be wiser that (Qatar) deal seriously with the demands and concerns of the neighbors or a divorce will take place,” he wrote on Twitter.
The demands confirm that “the crisis is profound,” Gargash added.
“The brother (Qatar) must realize that the solution for its crisis lies not in Tehran or Beirut or Ankara or Western capitals or in media outlets, but in regaining the trust of its neighbors,” Gargash said.
Gargash accused Qatar of leaking a document containing the demands by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, which have cut diplomatic ties and accused Qatar of sponsoring terrorism.
Qatar strongly denies such charges. “The leak (of the demands by Qatar) is an attempt to abort the mediation in a childish act that we have grown accustomed to from our brother,” Gargash wrote on Twitter.
“It is not possible to accept that the brother continues as the Trojan horse” in the Gulf or as a funder and “platform for an extremist agenda,” he added.
Meanwhile, the UAE ambassador to the US said that Qatar will remain cut off from its neighbors if it refuses to consent to the demands.
Ambassador Yousef Al-Otaiba said the measures taken against Qatar “are there to stay until there is a long-term solution to the issue.”
Al-Otaiba said “there is no military element to this whatsoever.”
The US has offered to help mediate. But Al-Otaiba said the Kuwaitis will take the lead. He said it’s an Arab issue that requires an Arab solution.

Source: Arab News