Dubai: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, took to verse to urge Qatar to concede to the demands of Saudi Arabia and its allies.

In a poem, posted on Instagram late on Wednesday, Shaikh Mohammad urged Qatar to abandon its independent foreign policy and return to the Gulf fold.

“Of one origin, people, existence/one flesh and blood, one land and faith,” he wrote.

“Yet Qatar turns to the nearby stranger, to the weak,” he added, alluding to Doha’s refusal to join the Riyadh-led boycott of Tehran.

“Now is the time to unite, one heart/to protect one another beyond hate.”

The poem garnered more than 80,000 likes overnight.

Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed all ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting extremist groups.

Last week, Riyadh laid down a list of 13 “non-negotiable” demands for Doha, including ending its support for the Muslim Brotherhood, the closure of Al Jazeera television, a downgrade of diplomatic ties with Iran and the shutdown of a Turkish military base in the country.

The UAE ambassador to Russia Omar Ghobash warned in comments published by Britain’s Guardian newspaper on Tuesday that Qatar could face further sanctions if it failed to meet the demands.

Meanwhile, diplomatic contacts continued in the region and abroad around the Qatari crisis.

In Washington, several Arab Gulf officials met with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Tillerson met both Qatari Foreign Minister Shaikh Mohammad Bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, and Kuwait Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Shaikh Mohammad Abdullah Al Sabah, whose country has taken on the official role of mediator in the Gulf dispute.

After meeting Al Sabah, Tillerson pledged his support for its lead in talks. According to media reports of the Kuwait-American meeting, both parties “reaffirmed the need for all parties to exercise restraint to allow for productive diplomatic discussions”.

US Department of State spokesperson Heather Nauert, said: “We continue to call on those countries to work together and work this out.”

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir, also in Washington, stressed in a tweet that “our demands on Qatar are non-negotiable. It’s now up to Qatar to end its support for extremism and terrorism”.