Washington/Dubai: The UAE ambassador to the United States said on Tuesday there was no military aspect to steps taken by Arab powers against Qatar, which they accuse of supporting terrorism.
"There is absolutely no military component to anything that we are doing," Ambassador Yousuf Al Otaiba told reporters in Washington.
"I have spoken and seen (US Defence Secretary) General (Jim) Mattis four times in the last week, we’ve given them our complete assurance that the steps we have taken will not affect in anyway Al Udeid base or any operations supporting or regarding the base," Al Otaiba said.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties with Qatar last week and imposed stringent economic sanctions on it. Doha denies their accusations that it supports Islamist militants and Iran.
The countries have designated dozens of people with alleged links to Qatar as terrorists. They also listed 12 entities as having terrorist links.
When asked what, if any, further steps would be taken against Qatar, Al Otaiba said: "We’ve designated 59 people and 12 entities, it’s likely that you could see designations of their bank accounts, and perhaps of the banks themselves. And so there’ll be an escalation of economic pressure, again, short of a policy shift or negotiations that lead to a policy shift.”
Al Otaiba said the four countries were compiling and a list of demands for Qatar.
"Each country has their own set of lists, their own specifications and so we’re trying to compile and curate that into one master list and it should be handed over to the United States fairly soon," Al Otaiba said.
Qatar doesn’t have the option to take a middle-line policy anymore as the time has come for it to decide whether it is “all in” or not in the fight against extremism and aggression, Al Otaiba wrote in an article published on Monday.
He wrote in an Op-Ed piece in The Wall Street Journal saying the recent decision by four countries to cut diplomatic relations with Doha was an expression of a collective frustration with Qatar’s policies.
“If Qatar sows the wind, it will reap the whirlwind,” he said.
“It is a striking and dangerous contradiction: Qatar invests billions of dollars in the US and Europe and then recycles the profits to support Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and groups linked to Al Qaida.
“Qatar hosts the American military base from which the US directs the regional war against extremism, yet it also owns media networks responsible for inciting many of the same extremists … Qatar cannot own stakes in the Empire State Building and the London Shard and use the profits to write cheques to affiliates of Al Qaida,” Al Otaiba wrote.
Doha is required today to shut down its funding to extremists, stop interfering in neighbouring internal affairs, and put an end to its media indictment and radicalisation.
Qatar shuts helium plants
Qatar, the world’s second largest helium producer, has closed its two helium production plants because of the economic boycott imposed on it by other Arab states, industry sources told Reuters yesterday.
The helium plants operated by RasGas, a subsidiary of state-owned Qatar Petroleum, were shut because Saudi Arabia closed its border with Qatar, blocking overland exports of the gas, a Qatar Petroleum official told Reuters.
In Washington, the Saudi foreign minister insisted there’s no blockade on Qatar and said his country will provide food and medical supplies if needed. Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir said before a meeting with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that Qatar’s ports and airports are open.
