Qatar said Thursday it will not "surrender" and rejected any interference in its foreign policy, defying its Gulf neighbors in an escalating dispute over its alleged support for extremists.
Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said calls for a change in Qatari policy from Saudi Arabia and its allies, which cut diplomatic ties with Doha this week, were unacceptable.
Qatar's foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani speaks to reporters in Doha, Qatar, on June 8, 2017. /Reuters Photo
"No one has the right to intervene in our foreign policy," Sheikh Mohammed said.
He also rejected "a military solution as an option" to resolving the crisis, and said Qatar could survive "forever," despite the measures taken against it.
"We are not ready to surrender, and will never be ready to surrender the independence of our foreign policy," he told reporters later, adding: "No one will break us."
Arab nations add Qatar residents, charities to 'terrorism' lists.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain said in a statement published by the Saudi news agency on Thursday that 59 people, including Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Yousef al-Qaradawi, and 12 entities, among them Qatari-funded charities Qatar Charity and Eid Charity, were named on the "terrorism" list.
A Qatari official had no immediate comment on the designations but said that Qatar adheres to United Nations Security Council resolutions on countering terrorism including eradicating sources of financing for terrorism.
(Source: Agencies)
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